Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the quiet and dawn sky, the alarm clock rang inside of the boy's room! As the alarm rang, it was stopped immediately by none other than Tanjiro. 

He got up immediately, with a smile on his face, taking a cold shower early in the morning, getting ready in his special uniform and brushing his hair as usual. He's the type of guy who's always ready even in the earliest morning, waking up early dutifully to serve his Lord. 

His suit contains a black vest with a long white polo fit for him with his usual black pants. All he was missing is an earring, one that was a hanafuda - black jewel that does not require to be fierced, just attached to its ear could do. 

His hair was messy after the shower and was placed back to its frizzy hair after the amount of brushing its own hair. He finally smiled in the mirror after seeing himself in his own reflection. 

As he left the room, he knocked on five of the doors in the ground floor hallway, waking them up with his usual happy and normal tone “ Everyone! It's time to wake up “. 

As he knocked on their doors, Tanjiro began his routine: Waking up everyone, washing the clothes outside, going out in the morning for eggs, cooking and lastly setting up the plates symmetrically and perfectly. As he was cooking food in the kitchen, some of the others finally headed to the kitchen.

“ Morning Tanjiro “ The golden haired boy greeted him first thing in the morning, with the same outfit as him. He went to the table and began to fold all the clothes that Tanjiro recently got outside.

“ Good morning! Did you sleep well last night? “ He asked, the boy nodded shyly. The eldest smiled in relief and as they were doing chores, a short figure appeared from the door, wearing a classic black maid outfit long enough until her knee length, in her sleek low bun who came back from cleaning the mansion. Despite how busy they have been, Tanjiro being the observant one checks for any errors and mistakes in their attire or chores knowing that their Lord may inspect later. He noticed one error on her.

“ Hey Kanao- “ Tanjiro spoke while sizzling the bacon on the pan and Kanao perked up from wiping the dishes that were used yesterday  “ Where are your special gloves? “

She finally realized and blushed in embarrassment and bowed quietly as she headed back to her room to bring her special gloves. Their Lord gave each and every one of them special gloves, for a special activity as a family. Tanjiro sighed happily knowing that he saved her today just then there were voices which kept getting near, arguing about a certain something that slowly increased once heading down to the kitchen with the table linen on one of the person’s hands.

“ This is all your fault! You spilled some orange juice by the table! “

“ Me?! “ The person scoffed “ You’re the one who kept minding my business on how I set up the table when it’s nearly fixed! “ He yelled back.

When they both came inside of the kitchen, Tanjiro was finished cooking their breakfast meals, set them for a while by the kitchen counter and went near the two of them “ Hey both of you, calm down. What is going on? “ He asked, both of them looked at each other.

“ He spilled orange juice on the table. The Lord will be upset if he finds the stain, what do we do?! “ The scared and concerned figure asked their eldest.

“ Place them on the bucket with water and detergent, let the linen be soaked for a while and come back for this one after breakfast. I’ll grab some new linen since I was planning to change it anyway. “ Tanjiro went back inside, crouched to the lower cabinet, opened it and grabbed a spare table linen, carrying it inside to the dining room.

“ While I’m going to change the linen, everyone! Prepare to place the plates down to the table and the other two will have to carry the food that I cooked, I’ll deal with the Lord’s special tea. “ Tanjiro spoke as all four nodded and immediately went back to work.

He stepped outside, calling the second eldest who hadn't woken up yet due to his watch duty last night. Just before the third call, he finally appeared in the dining room groggy and awake “ Just in time! Help me set out the linen! “

“  Wha- What happened? “

“ They spilt orange juice on the table “

“ Let me guess, “ he said in an annoyed tone. “ They both argued, didn't they? “ the man guessed, looking at the eldest, him looking away from the second eldest was the only confirmation he needed, then he added.

“ Besides, I have to make them tone their voice down, the Lord won’t be happy if he hears arguing first thing in the morning. “ Tanjiro spoke, as the second nodded. “ I’ll go prepare the Lord’s special tea, tell the four of them to set the plates now. I’ll wake up the master. “

 

Once he sets out the request to him, the second eldest leaves the room immediately assisting the rest as he finally prepares for the final touch for a good and happy breakfast. Tanjiro went back to the kitchen, with the four of them setting out the utensils leaving the kitchen, when no one was finally watching he prepared the special tea in the order the way their Lord wishes it.

Place lukewarm water in an iron kettle, place it in a stove on medium-high heat.

Apply pomegranate powder. 

Wait for five minutes to boil.

Add boiling water to the teapot


Tanjiro is nearly done, as he reached and opened the upper cabinet to reach the container filled with petals of Blue Spider - cornflower placing it on the top of the glass teapot. Once he finished making his special tea, he placed them on an iron tray with additional cornflower and carried them to the Lord’s bedroom.

He went to the dining room to find the five of them setting out the places and tidying the place up a bit before the master’s arrival. Tanjiro walked to the bifurcated staircase as he stood in front of the figurines that the Lord displayed on a short table, then tilting his head upward was the biggest landscape picture frame of his father and the six of them were all sitting perfectly by hierarchy: The Lord in the middle with his smile with each side of his hand placed on their shoulders. Tanjiro sitting on the right-side with the third and fourth sibling standing behind him and the second eldest on the left-side with the second and youngest sibling standing behind him also, formal and poised. Everything is perfect.    

After looking at the family picture, he made a right turn before ascending, going to the second floor where the Lord resides, holding a tray with his back straight and aligned, his shoulders up and making sure that he was holding the tray with both hands. As he arrived with the tray on his hand, in front of a two long door with golden door knobs, lies the place where the Master of the House resides during his sleeping and working hours. 

He knocked once and yelled “ Good morning, my Lord! Your tea has arrived! “. The innocent boy stood outside waiting for his master's response. 

“ Come in . “ 

All five of them stood in front of their respective chairs waiting for the eldest and their Lord to arrive. The second eldest, with his ears perked up, knew that they were getting closer. 

“ The Lord has arrived. “ He spoke in a loud tone. Tanjiro walked into the dining room as he looked around. A wide and large table is enough for seven people in this house, with plates, glasses and utensils neatly aligned and the scent of food despite being displayed at the table spreads throughout the dining room. Tanjiro placed the tray onto the kitchen room, heading back to where he was supposed to sit. 

As they all stood on their respective seats, the Lord finally appeared from the hallways. His hair was usually curly as always, wearing his usual black tuxedo with a black dress shirt including a white tie and white pants. His brown almond eyes stared at the room with all of his children present in the dining room, he walked his way towards his seat in the middle, with Tanjiro’s assistance helping him sit down.

“ Good Morning, Father. “ The all greeted him

“ You may all take your seat, children. “ He commanded. All six of them sat down on their chairs, not allowed to touch the food. The Lord just sipped his special tea first before speaking. 

“ I see that all the furniture in the house is well-cleaned as usual, Tanjiro “ He looked at the boy. 

“ Thank you. I wouldn't have done it without Kanao-san “ Tanjiro stared at the short-figured girl beside the second eldest with a bright smile. 

“ I-it was nothing, I was just following orders and cleaning up the living room as usual ” The second youngest, Kanao ??? looked at her Father with a calm smile with  her classic maid uniform in a low bun hairstyle, black shoes and with the same earring she pierced on her ear. As she folded the napkin in front of her, she then continued “ I apologize for changing my hairstyle, Father. I did not like the previous one “ Kanao said this in her normal tone. 

“ It's alright. How are you today, Senjuro? “ The Lord asked. Senjuro beamed with a smile and spoke in his shy tone. 

“ i-im doing well, Father. I'm slowly getting used to doing the laundry and ironing clothes. I still worry that I might be clumsy and mess up during my chore hours. Just so long as I am able to help my siblings out, that's all that matters to me “ Senjuro spoke with a happy tone that made the Lord nod with amusement. 

“ Very good. “ As the Lord of the house nodded proudly, he saw the two of them on Tanjiro's side, glaring darts at each other. 

“ Zenitsu, Inosuke. What were you two arguing awhile ago? “ The Lord spoke in an annoyed tone, that made the both of them look at their Father for once. 

“ I was just trying to help Inosuke because he keeps on misplacing the utensils in the wrong order “ Zenitsu ??? The middle child, fourth of the six siblings, spoke cowardly, while staring at Father. He wears the same outfit as Tanjiro, but he wasn't wearing his coat for once, only wearing his white long polo shirt and black pants, wearing the same earring with his hair stays the same after rejecting the idea of color dying his own hair. 

“ I know what I'm doing! You're the one who doesn't mind their own business! “ Inosuke, the third amongst the six and the second middle child, glared at Zenitsu. Two sides of his hair were neatly ponytailed and clean, wearing the same uniform as Zenitsu but his black sleeves were rolled up until his elbows. The Lord sighed deeply. 

“ Enough both of you. I do not want to hear the both of you bicker again, and do help Tanjiro in washing the linen- “

“ I already washed them, Father. All I have to do is to hang them by the rubber thread after breakfast. “ Tanjiro spoke calmly, and that made the Father smile proudly.

“ I’m glad that I am able to rely on you, had you not been here it would have been a mess . “ The Lord hinted at his tone after saying the last word that was being referred to the two middle children. The second eldest just observed the tension in the room, nearly darkening had Tanjiro not did his job dutifully. 

“ Before the discussion later for this week, shall we eat then? “

Chapter Text

When Tanjiro met the L ord of the house after saving us from attackers, he took us in and allowed us to feel comfortable in his home. We all didn’t trust him at first, worried that he’ll harm us eventually, but he showered us with much love and affection, treating us like we were his children. Then we discussed whether we should stay in the mansion to give him the sense of comfort that he wasn’t alone after telling us of how his beloved wife and child died in an accident.

He was happy that we decided to stay, even if it means wearing these comfortable outfits that may seem uncomfy at first glance. As months passed, I couldn’t get rid of the suspicious feeling in my heart that there was something strange about Father that I couldn’t get rid of. 

There were times that I had nightmares in my sleep, like something or someone was tormenting me along with some other people beside me—twisted and bent to the shadow’s will. I tried not to think about it and just focused on the task at hand, helping Tanjiro hang the table linen, which was soaked earlier with orange juice. Being the middle child of this family means that my existence means nothing for the Lord unlike Inosuke, despite his loud personality, he somehow managed to maintain his res p onsibilities no matter how much I overlooked them. 

The second eldest, already left to fix the roof with the five of us remaining to clean the table.  Tanjiro noticed I was dazing my gaze into space, decided to go up and spoke to me despite trying to gather the plates for washing later “ Is everything alright? “ He asked, I just stared up at him and spoke.

“ I’m fine. It’s those nightmares it’s been bothering me again. “ I spoke, that perked up his interest.  

“ What was the nightmare about? “ Tanjiro asked.

“ I- “ Before I could speak, Father came up to the both of us.

“ Is everything alright? “ He asked while holding my shoulder, I felt his grip on me slowly tighten that its hurting me somehow.

“ Father. Zenitsu was just telling me about his worries, he wasn’t able to sleep last night “ Father just stared at me, then with his calm and usual expression spoke to me neutrally.

“ S ee me in my room later, Zenitsu-san “ That was what Father said before heading back to his quarters while we began our chores for the morning.

Zenitsu enters his Father’s room, where he sees him managing invitations as always with the golden rule during business hours: Never interrupt him, do not sit unless you are told to . He stood there, waiting for his Father to notice him while looking at the papers. 

“ Come sit, Zenitsu I apologize for not being able to notice you immediately “ Father spoke, as he gulped down a bit and went close to his work desk and sat down on one of the chairs to his right, where he could gaze at his own Father. 

“ Father. Why—Did you summon me here? “ I asked quietly. He stopped immediately from managing his invitations and spoke.

“ I overheard your conversation with Tanjiro. Is everything okay, son? “ He asked. 

“ I’m okay, Father. “ I laughed a bit in disbelief and continued “ To be honest, I was surprised that you noticed me even though I’m not worth anything. “

“ Don’t say that. All of you are worth everything to me, you are my children and you shouldn’t undermine yourselves because of your hierarchy. The more you undermine yourself, the more you’ll lose trust in yourself and our relationship that we built as a family. “ Father spoke words that struck the heart of the cowardly sibling.

“ But Father- I’m a coward, I’m useless and all I can ever do is cry. How come you see your worth in me- “

“ Zenitsu, you are the middle child that despite seeing your siblings struggle with their chores, you always lended a hand to them even though they never asked; When I asked you to assist me in my paperwork, you were much faster handling them than I do; I’ve seen you changed from your old self and that is what matters to me “ Father cupped one of his hands and spoke softly “ Zenitsu, you meant everything to me. You are the stem of this family that holds us together despite our old disputes and misunderstandings, if not for you—This house would be very dull without you “.

“ You have the ability to determine what is right and wrong so that it balances the scale. “ He ends his speech with Zenitsu, as the only thing he could do is stare at the yellow haired child.

A s Father spoke of these words, Zenitsu tried not to cry and yet, his words were comforting like a soft pillow that you could lie on. He realized that he is actually useful, more than that. His Father was right, he is useful—He didn’t realize it back then. He formed a fist softly and smiled.

“ Thank you, Father “ I looked at him with teary eyes and smiled, then I had to bring up the conversation “ Father… “

“ Yes? “ He asked.

“ I had this nightmare that’s been bothering me all night. “ I spoke.

“ What is that nightmare about then? “ He asked curiously.

“ I-i saw myself being tormented… “ I spoke fearfully “ There were other people with me, screaming and begging for hope and mercy…They were locked in a cellar and everything, I saw them being harmed and kept crying to me, telling me to help them “ I stood up from my chair and circled around with both of my hands gripped the sides of my hair, clutching it and slowly losing my sanity as I laughed bitterly.

“ Help them from who exactly! “ I threw the chair as it flew towards the wall “ I don’t even know whom I’m helping. Hell! If I listened, I might hurt my siblings because of this stupid dream and I cannot sleep another night. I can even hear my own voice, screaming from the intense pain and it is killing me “ I felt the electric sparks course through my breathing, feeling like I want to break something in this office and the more I went berserk and break things ragefully the more I can feel my anger boiling in me.

“ I’m scared that the shadow may hurt our family- “ As I nearly had myself a panic attack, Father who was quietly observing me carefully finally spoke and stopped me.

“ I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to do something about it. I’ll grab the one thing that could fix it “ Father walked to his cabinet, making tea just with herbs and hot water. He finished making the tea after five minutes and handed it to me and sat across from me where he could see me properly.

“ Go on. Drink “ He ordered, I held the cup in both of my hands and drank the tea carefully with caution gulping everything down to my throat. After I drank the cup, I felt relaxed and somehow…dazed. 

“ So, how do you f ee l now? “ Father asked. 

“ I feel… completely relaxed “ I tried to stand up, but I nearly tripped on the floor. Father had his hand around my left arm. 

“ Careful. Just stay in my room, otherwise, I'll inform the children of your condition. “ Father tried to put me into his bed. 

“ B-but the chores- “

“ Can continue once you no longer feel the bad thoughts. “ Father tucked me in his bed, as I stared at him feeling guilty and relieved that he understood me. 

“ Thank you, Father for understanding me, even if I seemed so useless- “ 

“ Hush now. Go get some sleep “ My eyes couldn't be able to keep them open, my vision began to be blurry and decided to rest for now. The last thing I saw him do, was when he lit up an incense and heard his voice. 

“ Sleep my child, you'll be in line again after this. “

Father . It supposed to be ‘you’ll feel better again? ’. 

Chapter Text

It’s been three hours since Zenitsu was being summoned into Father’s room, I was casually cleaning the chandelier with a towel and wiped all the dust away. I kept hearing Tanjiro call out my name, I sighed and looked at him “ What is it this time? “ I glanced at them for a bit.

“ I-inosuke! You’re on a high ceiling without any ladder! Get down here immediately “ Tanjiro spoke worriedly, I looked down and realized that I didn’t have any ladder with me and scoffed.

“ I’m fine! It’s not like this chandelier will fall on its own! “ I exclaimed. I may be the second middle child among the six, but I am able to take these dangerous risks without getting myself in harm. It started small as I climbed on a tre e trying to pick apples at first, but then I wanted to climb more that I ended up climbing on ceilings, rooftops that required Genya to take me down forcefully to the ground and then I ended up bending my back a lot that my head was in between my legs with my hands up front that they ended up screaming and running away. I giggled in amusement.

“ I’m serious! Father is going to kill you if you don’t stop this! “ Tanjiro looked at me nervously.

“ I’m fine! Stop being dramatic- “

“ Inosuke? “ I heard this chilling voice, Father was right behind Tanjiro. How did I not notice his presence a while ago? I was sure that I could see anybody in this view “ Get down here, this instant. “  

I had no choice but to come down, I swung the chandelier to where I climbed awhile ago, placing my grip on the arch by the left side and held onto the bumpy square walls with both of the heels of my shoes placed on the corners of the wall with a tight grip and slip down easily. I went up to Father slowly.

“ Sorry Father “ I looked away. “ I got too carried away by going to the ceiling without ladders. “ I spoke, Father sighed.

“ It’s alright. I’ll let you climb on any of the ceilings as long as you stay safe. “ He smiled as he rubbed on my hair. “ Your flexibility may come in handy someday “ He smiled, I looked away embarrassingly and my face blushed red and pouted.

“ I’m not a baby, dad! “ I said. Father laughed a bit softly enjoying this treatment for awhile, Tanjiro looked at me pouting his face too.

“ No fair me too- “ As Tanjiro wanted h is Father’s praise. The world around me darken, feeling those soundwaves on the ground again and it was an instinct. I ran away from Father and Tanjiro as I barged on the back door where I could feel the ladder about to break, while seeing Kanao tried to reach the apple that was far within her reach. The ladder broke down instantly and before Kanao fell to the ground, I reached for the falling apples immediately and placed them in the basket then without hesitation, let Kanao fall onto me and a loud thud was heard.  

“ Inosuke! “ Tanjiro yelled as he ran towards me, the second youngest tried to process these events and realized that she landed on me.

“ I-i’m sorry “ She bowed to me apologetically.

“ It’s fine- “ Just as I helped her u p , the rest of the siblings came out from the house, stopping from their chores. The second eldest tried to help me up, with the youngest looking at her sister with concern in his eyes.

“ I’m alright. Had Inosuke not caught me as soon as possible, I might have ruined the apples. Thank you “ She bowed politely a bit. I looked down, just then I heard Father’s voice right behind us and Tanjiro held up the hand l e of his Father’s umbrella wearing a white haori instead of his usual black coat. I looked up at father and asked him with curiosity and concern in me

“ Father, why are you under an umbrella… Hadn’t your condition been finally cleared after drinking cornflower tea? “ I asked curiously.

“ Oh this? “ He pointed out then continued “ The sun was too hot for me to handle, although I am able to walk in the sun, I didn’t want to get sick for the following business party that I’ll be holding “ Father spoke, then added “ We can discuss in regards to the party at night. “

Then Tanjiro looked around as if looking for someone and asked Father “ Where is Zenitsu anyways? I haven’t seen him since awhile ago “ He spoke with concern.

“ Zenitsu had migraines as of the moment, he is under my care. Once he recovers, I’ll take him down to the living room for all of you to see him. “ He answered, everyone agreed now and didn’t question him further, then the youngest sibling asked.

“ Are you making apple pie later, sister? “ He asked, the second youngest nodded and smiled.

“ Want to help me, little brother? “ She asked nicely. His eyes lit up like the brightest star, through this activity, every sibling and immediately, I carried the handful of apples back inside of the kitchen. The four of the siblings held a race to see who was first to the kitchen, with the loser having to wash the dishes for a month. All of us ran happily back inside with Tanjiro leading his Father inside formally. 

I may have had my fair distrust towards Father, but he helped us in many ways that we never expected… I wonder how Zenitsu is doing? 

Oblivious to the dangers around them in their Father’s room, Zenitsu’s breathing had become ragged for two hours with veins bulging across his body, muttering and screaming in distress with the room a raging mess, and the furniture were completely destroyed from the chaos trying to unlock the door. The tea and incense with an orchid scent slowly suffocated and overwhelmed all of his senses, making him weak and helpless, unaware of the lurking threat in this mansion. His cries were not heard as the room had been soundproof for this occasion only.

Chapter Text

As the second youngest among the six, I had to make sure that my little brother is also getting the attention that he needed. Sometimes I allow him to stay by my side to help me with chores. Right now, all of us except Zenitsu were baking apple pie for dessert. Inosuke and Tanjiro will be responsible for the pie crust, me and Senjuro will slice the apples and our big brother will make the fillings as we planned to make 3 apple pies. 

While they were all busy on their part, I looked over at Senjuro who was trying to slice the apples. We haven’t talked a lot honestly, busy with the chores and doing our usual activities. I tried to talk to him one time but he was very busy lately, so I almost seemed so worried that it may take a toll on his health. HIs figure seemed nearly pale.

“ Senjuro “ I called his name, he looked up immediately.

“ What’s going on sister? “ He asked me confusedly. I hesitated to speak at first but then I decided to let it out somehow.

“ If you’re tired or need a break, just let me know “ I spoke kindly, I thought that he might see it as something that can remove the burden on his shoulders, but instead it stressed him a bit.

“ Did I do something wrong? “ He asked nervously, stopping from what he was doing.

“ No. “ I answered, then continued “ You’ve been doing so much for this mansion, Father may not see it now but you’re pushing yourself too hard. “

“ But I do want this! It’s not that I'm forcing myself to exceed. “ Senjuro spoke then added “ All I need to do is to do as I’m told, do the chores in the correct way and somehow… Know that my efforts are seen. I have a feeling that—He never acknowledges it and possibly ignores it like it was nothing. “

Senjuro looked down in frustration “ Tanjiro is reliable and mature, Genya is protective of us all, Inosuke has his instincts, Zenitsu is unsolicited, you are strong and kind in your own way and me? “ He laughs bitterly “ I’m worth nothing. No matter what I do, it’s just never enough for him. “ 

“ Don’t say that! You are enough, even though he may not say it—Everybody here appreciates all the things that you did for them, even when there are times when they are sick and tired. You were always the one who stepped in to take over their job “ Kanao spoke softly then added “ We couldn’t thank you enough for your efforts. “

As I spoke to him about everything, it just eases up on his personal burden that even he himself acknowledges it, the four of them in this room nodded with a smile and comforting words as we went back into finishing the first batch of apple pie.

Father who was known as REDACTED quietly exited from the kitchen and left to check up on Zenitsu, who’s finished calming down by not after the incense. He walked up to the room slowly and carefully to not scare him or to make him feel tense, with spare clothes in his hand knowing that he’ll ruin them again. 

He knocked once. 

Twice. 

And thrice.

He opened the door slowly, already wondering what to expect after leaving Zenitsu in his own bedroom. Furniture destroyed, walls full of scratches and bit of blood, the ink he bought two months ago were spilled on the curtains, especially been spreaded on the window. This kid had been giving him a hard time ever since, aside from how behaved and diligent the children were, they obeyed to simple tasks especially without question.

Zenitsu somehow managed to grasp what is real and a liability, he suddenly remembers stuff that he wasn’t supposed to remember after all the hard work and effort his minions in suppressing them, turning them like perfect porcelain dolls, playing dollhouse and happy family giving them also ability to defend him from his enemies. The punishment a few weeks ago had resurfaced a recollection that may take it as a threat to his plans for them. They were perfect enough, and he won’t risk a fatal mistake to ruin it.

Father stood in front of the helpless child crying for his dear life, head on the floor quietly breathing. He just stared at him like he was a helpless case but he decided to act for the sake of his needs “ How are you feeling now, Zenitsu? “ he asked.

The man looked at the helpless kid like he was some patient that he needed to tend, to heal and to fix. Zenitsu slowly looked up to his Father, fixing his position back to sitting, he quietly looked at him with numbful eyes, unable to give him a response. Father hummed in delight then spoke with hate.

“ Did you finally come into your senses? “ He asked coldly, something that he would never do in front of the children. Zenitsu opened his mouth.

“ Yes. “ He muttered. The clock ticked in the room despite how broken and nearly destroyed, yet it was still able to echo that ticking sound in this room as he wiped away his own tears slowly. “ I’m sorry… Father “.

Father smiled, crouching down to his level and hugged him tightly without any warmth in his body “ It’s alright. You were just having a bad dream. I’m just helping you to forget it. “ He spoke softly. He stood up, dropped down his clothes to the floor.

“ Your siblings are making apple pie at the moment, you better fix yourself and change into these clothes in five minutes. Wouldn’t want to worry everyone right? “ He asked hardly, Zenitsu just looked up at his Father, calmed down expressing an neutral yet feels emotionless and tired, calming himself down through proper breathing and fake a smile. 

“ Of course, Father. “  

As all the siblings finished all the 3 batches of apple pie, they decided to help out and set the plates in the living room for the discussion later, until they all heard three knocks from the entrance door. “ Guess who I brought with me? “ Father smiled as Zenitsu appeared in front of them, which made them lunge at Zenitsu.

“ We missed you! “

“ Are you okay? “

“ What happened “

There were coherent words that he wasn’t able to answer all of them but still, his Father had his eyes on Zenitsu and laughed “ Calm down everyone. You all can get a chance to talk to him, after the discussion. Set the plates up in the living room for the apple pies “ 

“ Yes, Father. “ Everyone chimed.

The five siblings left the room to set the saucer plates out on the table, I looked back at Father letting Zenitsu go as he helped out with the dishes silently. I decided to say something to ease him up.  “ Zenitsu, if you wish to talk about your worries, I'll always be open for you no matter what. We are siblings, we protect each other no matter what, so don’t forget that “ I spoke with a kind smile.

“ Sister… “ Zenitsu looked at her with eyes that shows relief and guilt, while setting up the plates and responded “ Thank you and I will always come to you no matter what, but right now I’m feeling a lot of inner turmoil—All I need is a rest and fresh air “.

We finally finished setting up the plates on the living table facing the furnace. After they had done most of their chores, we all sat on the family couch while Genya wanted to stand instead. Father arrived calmly with six papers and a booklet.

“ Good evening children, let’s discuss the preparation for this week’s event now. Shall we? “

Chapter Text

When the first eldest sibling is temporarily unavailable due to certain issues or mostly busy assisting with Father, I was mostly handled with the task of taking care of the siblings and making sure that they don’t mess up one single bit. It feels good to be the second eldest that I’m able to care and help them in their daily tasks and routines.

During the day, I’m not mostly present around them since I get tired a lot after watching our home all night. It is my duty to ensure that the outsiders could not trespass Father’s home and harm my siblings. This all started after Father proposed this idea to me after our training in self-defense. At first I protested that idea and thought about it, thus I used the time to help my siblings in their usual daily activities that includes performing their talents for the guests.

Father summoned me into his office one day to talk about my night routine and asked me if I was willing to sacrifice myself to watch over the house. I did speak up to him about my opinions and my worry of lack of bonding time with my siblings in the daytime. I know Father always gets his way all the time just like how he was able to convince Tanjiro into doing most of his tasks related to his work and meetings, but I had to speak up even if it kills me. The whole afternoon while all the siblings were out, Father persuading me in a mannerly yet easy way for me to agree with him-

“ I won’t eat them even if you forced me- “ His hair is hardly gripped by the dark figure in his dreams, the monster. 

“ You will submit. “ The shadow walked towards the child, gripping hardly of his chin, with his nails digging into his flesh. His red pupils and cat-eyed iris looked into his black sclera and yellow irises murderously threatening him and continued “ You are a half-demon you are supposed to betray your kind for the sake of my goals, not the other way around. “

The shadow continued to instill fear onto him “ How long will you realize that every human being will never accept a man-eating demon slayer like you? How long will you keep on following your big brother’s footsteps even though he made it clear that he has long hated you since your family’s death? “ Every single truth that came out from the monster’s mouth were all the ugliest truth about his existence, around S* REDACTED *i. It finally made him see that all his intentions ended up in nothingness! No matter what he does, he will never acknowledge him—Why did he keep on trying to make him see him personally?

When the monster finally let him go, he was shaken in fear that he was unable to move his own body or at least instinctively attack him. He tried to muster the courage and strength to stand up but due to being tortured physically none other than him, his legs failed to support him and his body weakened unable to process the torture on it’s own. 

Just as he looked up and processed everything that happened in this room. The monster had his shadow arms wrapped around his cold, beaten body hugging him tight to prevent from resisting his cold touch and dark gaze. “ Everything will be okay, my lost lamb. I will guide you back to where you’re supposed to be. All you have to do is surrender to my voice-“

“ And all your problems will no longer exist “ The child slept weakly, allowing the monster to wrap his arms around his shoulder with the other, wrapped around his waist cradling the poor demon child to sleep with the goal to guide him of his destiny, of what he should be.

And after a lot of convincing, he took on the role as the guard of the mansion. Right now, we settled into the living room as Father wished to discuss something. I looked around to see the other siblings talking and laughing except for Zenitsu who seemed to be spacing out as if he was in a deep thought or maybe just tired from his chores. I went to his side and nudged him up.

“ You alright? “ I asked, Zenitsu just looked at me tiredly, he just looked away and leaned onto the arm of the couch and slept. I just sat beside him, softly placed his head onto my lap. Just then, Tanjiro rushed quickly to the living room looking tired.

“ Am I late?! “ Tanjiro asked nervously.

“ Nope, Tanjiro-san “ Father spoke behind him, looking to his side and immediately went to sit down on one of the couches. Tanjiro was about to ask, but was cut off immediately as I spoke.

“ Father. Is it alright that Zenitsu can sleep throughout the meeting? “ I asked formally. “ It seems like he didn’t sleep well last night. “

I thought Father would have been displeased with me, I thought he might force me to wake Zenitsu up just because he was tired from a chore and instead, just smiled and nodded “ I’ll allow it. Tanjiro, tell Zenitsu of what we discussed and his role. “     

After the meeting, they were all washing up the dishes and preparing themselves to sleep while Inosuke kept being competitive with the siblings. The youngest tried to stop him from breaking things again. Last time he broke the faucet, Father scolded him a lot. Before they all go to their rooms, Tanjiro summons them to their own meeting room with two couches, a small table with a visible window and a view of the back of the house.

Tanjiro, with his notebook, said with a serious tone “ To summarize again with the meeting; This week, Father will be holding a business event in this mansion with 200 guests and we are going to organize it the way he wants. Tomorrow I'll do three tasks: show him the plans that we all suggested for approval, ask him to let the guests’ clothing color-code based on their business group and ask him permission if we could go out of town to buy the materials we need. “

Just as Tanjiro was about to ask for complications, I spoke up in shock “ We’re all going outside? “

Hearing Tanjiro’s tasks made them fall into disbelief and fear even me as I spoke up about it despite still sat in the couch “ Are you insane?! Father never once let us go out. “

“ But we already did go outside! “ Tanjiro spoke up, feeling a bit upset that they had complaints.

“ That’s just because we only stepped on the front yard and the backyard of the mansion, not in town itself. I’m afraid it’s impossible to seek our Father’s approval “ Kanao spoke up for the first time while the youngest just nodded.

“ It seemed impossible in my opinion. “ The youngest spoke up a bit.

“ But it would seem impossible at first, unless we all ask Father’s permission he might let us! Besides, we won’t go that far, Father will manage the rest of the stuff that were only in stock in different towns. “ Tanjiro spoke innocently like it wasn’t a bad thing, that even Inosuke that once kept yelling for no reason became silent.

“ Tanjiro- You’re talking like it wasn’t a big deal to you, but it is—This is a suicide mission and if we do that, Father may punish us! “ Inosuke protested.

“ See?! Even the loudest and annoying Inosuke also disagrees with you, so please drop this now- “ I stood up and walked in front of Tanjiro, glaring at him with my eyes frowned in seriousness. Tanjiro did the same, as we both ended up gazing into each other’s eyes angrily and competitively like we were opponents with different sides. Inosuke felt offended when I commented on his personality that Kanao had to hold him back.

“ Just because you’re the eldest and Father’s favorite child, doesn’t mean everything will go your way. He won’t let us go outside despite your plea. This is my final warning, Tanjiro-san—Drop the idea of asking Father or you’ll regret this “

Tanjiro sighed as he closed the booklet, deeply annoyed a bit by the fact they were against him seeking Father's permission and stared at them coldly “ I don’t care if some of you are against it. Whether all of you like it or not, I'm still going to ask Father. It wouldn't hurt to try, you know? “

Everyone was silenced from the shift of Tanjiro's personality, and decided not to go against him anymore. As Tanjiro was about to leave the room he stopped “ Be prepared tomorrow and sleep early. I almost forgot—Genya, Father wishes to summon you to his quarters immediately “ and closed the door behind him.

After everyone went back to their rooms, I immediately went to Father's room and went inside. The moonlight seemed so full tonight that it shined on Father, who was looking at the papers for a moment and looked up immediately” You're just in time. Have a seat. “

Father led me to the couch as I sat across from him, the coffee was served hot as usual, sugar cubes on one of the small, transparent glass containers and powdered milk beside the kettle.

“ Give me updates. “ Father spoke coldly as he held his cup of coffee. I deeply coughed a bit and spoke.

“ This week the intruders that invaded our home five weeks ago no longer returned after I gave them a clear warning. I may have to be on guard for possible break-in to the mansion “ I spoke a bit tense.

“ Well that’s good. “ Father drank the mug, and stared at me for a bit “ Anything you wish to say, Genya? “

I gulped and exhaled deeply, as I looked at him with seriousness especially in my tone “ I would like to report something also, I didn’t brought it , placing up with the siblings, I do not wish to make them all worry especially Tanjiro “ Father stopped drinking placing his mug down, leaned backward crossing his arms and with the right leg on top of his left leg. He stared at me with a calm expression. I finally continued.

“ Someone has been watching us, Father “ I spoke slowly, which made him widen his eyes and dropped his teacup to the ground allowing it's contents to spill.

“ Two nights ago, I felt an intruder within the forest. At first I thought it was nothing but the more I smelled it again, I realized there was a different aura so I chased it down. Although I finally caught it, I killed it by accident as it kept squawking at me that may attract unwanted attention “ The box that I brought with me a while ago, was not being placed on the table and opened it in front of him—It was a black crow, with its blood dried on the cloth, leaving its head detached from its body due to the immense grip on its neck, with the wings injured by an impact. Father looked at it carefully with his red eyes while I just sat there, watching him observe it. I added after taking a look at it.

“ There’s also something tucked in beneath the legs, a paper—But I haven’t opened it. Should I, Father? “ I asked him.

“ No need, my child. Thank you for reporting this incident to me, do me a favor and leave the evidence to me and try not to bring it up around the siblings. Our conversation tonight is confidential “ Father requested and I just nodded, excusing myself and leaving for my night patrol around the mansion. 

As Genya left the mansion for his night patrol, I stared at the dead crow intently while carrying the box to my secret garden. The garden around Father was surrounded with Blue Spider Lily and a special plant, one that eliminates intruders or as Tanjiro would like to call it ‘Baby Onibi’. I placed the box on the table, observing the dead crow from top to bottom until I saw the attached paper that was stained with blood. I untangled it from its leg, looking at the folded paper and reading it. At the same time, I spoke up.

“ You nearly got me right there, my little spy. “ I didn’t need to look up, I just knew that my ‘Hidden Rabbit’ had been with me the moment Genya entered my room “ Report, my little one. “

“ Father, Tanjiro’s planning to ask tomorrow if we could go outside “ The figure hidden in the dark responded. Father held his chin and rubbed it slowly, staring outside of the window.

“ Did he tell any of you why? “ Father asked suspiciously

“ For event purposes, Father. I believe he wished to gather materials to decorate the mansion to make it feel formal and fancy—In short, he wanted all of your guests to fully be interested in partnering their business with you. He also planned on letting the guests compliment you and your mansion for organizing this party without a trace of complications and ruckus for the whole night. “

Tanjiro, always so thoughtful and reliable, it’s like he knew what I was thinking. If I could just keep him by my side, we would be unstoppable and they would finally die, for good I thought.

“ Very well then. I’ll go talk to him privately, now go back to bed “ I commanded, the spy finally left.

Tanjiro wasn’t able to sleep that night after the protests of his siblings, he grabbed the blanket and put it away from him making him sat on the side of the bed and was about to grab himself a glass of water “ I just wished they put their trust in me- “

Tanjiro opened the door widely, and looked at the figure in front of him as indeed, it was Father, who was about to knock on the door with a neutral face as usual “ Father- “ Before he could ask what he was doing, standing in front of his door, the man pushed him inside of the room, closing the door  and locking it behind him.

“ I would like to talk to you, in advance “ Father stared at him coldly, then continued “ I heard you're planning to ask me permission to go outside even though I warned you about the possibilities of going out, didn't I? “

Tanjiro stuttered in nervousness and fear “ I-i’m sorry, Father! I didn't want to burden you to gather the materials for us knowing you'll be busier tomorrow- “

“ Save it. “ Tanjiro shut his mouth and looked below, closing his eyes and shaking in fear for the impact that he'd always received every time he messed up.

“ Because I'm allowing all of your siblings to go out temporarily “ Muzan spoke from his cold tone to his neutral tone. Tanjiro looked up, blinked three times, still feeling a bit foggy on his brain, staring at Father in confusion feeling the fear in him fading away from his mind. 

“ What? “ That was the only word that Tanjiro let out of his mouth.

Chapter Text

Being the youngest among the six of us is a bit pressuring. At first I thought that I didn’t need to think of the burdens pl aced upon us, allowing myself to relax a little, make mistakes and mostly help out when my other siblings are busy with their responsibilities, accepting praise from Father. But the more I think of it, the more I realized that I needed to prove my worth as one of them. 

One time Father wanted us to mop the floor before the guests arrived within two hours. The problem is five of my siblings have fever the same day, Tanjiro could help, but his body isn’t strong enough to get up from bed. So the first thing in the morning, I immediately began mopping the floor, tidying around the house and finish before they all knew it, when the guests arrived I headed back to my quarters.

While I was taking care of my siblings, Father summoned me to his office privately, realized that they had finally left. I went to his quarters in the night, stood in the middle of the room as if I was being interrogated. I gulped all my bravery down to my throat expecting a backlash from him—But instead, Father clapped his hand and complimented me for my hard work today, feeling ecstatic that Father for the first time ever saw me. I closed my eyes happily, letting him pat me in the head as long as he wanted-

“ I’m sorry- “ The boy fell in front of the hay dummy. When he failed to inflict damage on the dummy, the monster who'd been watching hit him on their stomach, arms and legs until they fell down to the ground, as small drops of blood flowing down from the skin to the ground. The monster stood in front of the boy with a bamboo cane in his hand, gripping it hard and scoffed.

“ How long will you keep on being like this? No wonder your own Father and brother gave up on you “ The monster spoke and looked down on the child coldly. The child looked at him in desperation with tears forming from their eyes, as he knelt down and grasped both of their hands together, pleading to him.

“ I- I’ll do better- please I’ll train hard and do better “ The child pleaded, crying to the monster not to take away his medication. The monster scoffed arrogantly and mockery.

“ How are you even going to do better, if you can’t concentrate! “ The monster lashed out at him ragefully, intimidating him and continued “ If you keep on getting weaker on my training, then I have no choice but to stop giving ZREDACTEDu medications to save him from his fever, the only thing I expect on you is to do well on your training. Since you weren’t able to handle all that I unleashed upon you, then maybe I could stop training you and let that brat die for all I care! “

Despite the child’s body getting weaker from his intense training, his orange-yellow hair covering half of his face placing his hair into a ponytail, then grabbed the sword that has the same weapon as his enemies. The boy slowly stands up on his own and with both hands gripping on the handle of the sword, he positioned himself into an offensive position despite his frail body being bruised over and over again by the monster if he did not do well. The boy spoke in a determined yet in a cold and harsh tone using the small amount of his strength, he poured it all for his personal training “ I want to try again, M- “

I woke up and looked down to what I’ve been holding for awhile, a basket full of the necessities that Tanjiro needed for the party, the second youngest of all of us, Kanao looked at me in concern “ Are you alright? Do you wish to go back to the mansion? “ Kanao asked.

“ No! I was just closing my eyes “ I answered, Kanao looked away for a moment as I recalled a specific detail. Father summoned all of us first thing in the morning with Tanjiro standing by his side and declared that we were allowed to go out with him, he explained that we’ve been working day and night since the day we became a complete family, we never once spoke of our desires to Father, and yet it feels refreshing somehow and the best part is we can stay out before night time.

For the following noon, we gathered items that we needed for decorations, with Zenitsu and Inosuke looking around in the stores while Genya-san stood outside and watched over us, as Tanjiro-san came out from the store. “ We finally gathered what we needed! Let’s go eat lunch then head back home. “

We all carried most of the items, ribbons, new floor rugs, groceries for tomorrow night and silk for a special surprise, and ended up sitting at a diner that serves ramen noodles. I ate most of the tempura bowl, continued to observe them and saw most of my siblings were all having a conversation “ I still can’t believe that Father lets us go outside “ Genya commented.

“ I told you so! He agreed when we asked permission! “ Tanjiro smiled and ate his curry, then stopped for a bit. “ Come to think of it, how did Father even know that I was planning to ask him to go outside of the mansion to begin with? “ He asked confusedly, all of them stopped eating for a while.

“ I thought you already told him last night before going to bed? “ Genya looked at Tanjiro questionably, I coughed for a bit and spoke up innocently.

“ Maybe Father heard everything since—The walls aren’t soundproof “ I spoke up, all five of them stared at me silently, then in a few seconds they heard people performing in the streets that our ears perked up for music. Everyone was curious what it was all about.

“ We have to watch! “ Tanjiro held my hand and led me to the performers.

“ Wait for us! “ Zenitsu yelled from behind, holding my hand a bit nervously.

“ Don’t leave us dammit! “ Inosuke yelled with Kanao helping Genya to carry the stuff to the performers, watching them display their amazing tricks in front of the audience of all ages. 

As the show ended, daylight began to fade with the orange sky spreading far and wide of its colors, they walked back to their place peacefully with the materials in their hands. On the other hand, I was being placed in a piggy back ride after I felt tired from watching the performers with the ribbons that we bought a while ago in my hand. Some of them were tired too but they were able to carry them easily as I yawned loudly.

“ Ne, Senjuro- “ Tanjiro asked as I hummed in acknowledgement “ Did you enjoy the show? “ he asked.

“ Yeah. “ I smiled softly then continued “ I enjoyed it a lot. I hope we can stay like this forever as a family “ I mumbled.

“ Ever since Father took us in, our lives we’re better than ever. We used to be vigilant and hostile towards him despite being a complete stranger, but the more I knew about him, the more I felt like I’m able to trust him fully. “ Tanjiro spoke of Father highly.

“ He may be cold at first, but he actually loved us no matter what or where we came from “ Kanao spoke happily, with Zenitsu and Genya agreeing too, Inosuke also grinned and ran in front of us.

“ Last place gets to cook for the entire evening “ Inosuke jumped way too high towards the trees, along with Tanjiro who also climbed the tree, carefully securing me on his back and jumped vastly towards the branches. Kanao, Genya and Zenitsu giggled, feeling their adrenaline getting too high and ran as much as they could, back to their living home with Father

Unbeknownst to the children, when they all walked towards the outskirts of this town back to the mansion. A large figure, taller than Tanjiro, medium black hair with half-and-half of his haori, armed with a nichirin sword on the right, happened to walk back to the motel he’d reserved, about to leave town searching for them high and low. In slow motion, staring at the children in shock and disbelief. Instead of confronting them immediately, he stopped on his own tracks processing his brain for a moment of whom he’d finally encountered. The sun that once glowed now finally dimmed into the night with the moon displayed above shining light on the whole village.

 

“ Caw? “ One of the crows jumped into his shoulder with concern, after seeing his changed expression. The stranger’s eyes widened, despite his pale eyes it glimmered into hope.

“ After searching different villages far and wide— “ The stranger headed back inside of the motel and wrote immediately in kanji, folding the small piece of paper vertically, tying it to the crow’s leg and opening the window that viewed the night sky.

 

“ Report back to Oyakata-sama. Tell them that I finally found them “ The unknown figure, who’d let the crow fly off to the sky, knew of the event but not the owner of the mansion—Decided to sneak in, tomorrow night.

As all the children were all fast asleep, except one who was kneeling on the floor, with the buttocks resting on his heel and topping of the feet flat on the ground and hands placed on his thighs respectfully. Father who sat on the fireplace, had his legs and arms crossed looked at his spy coldly.

“ How did your mission in town with siblings go? “ Father asked.

“ It went well, Father. Everyone was distracted by entertainment in town that lasted us going home late before the sun dimmed. I was caught off-guard when Tanjiro nii-san questioned your discovery of his plans—I mentioned to him regarding the walls being soundproofed. Had not the performers arrived, he may have possibly known that you planted someone to  watch over them for any suspicions of their actions “ The child spoke coldly. He stopped speaking for a while, then asked sternly.

“ Did you find anything suspicious around town? “, he drank his cup of cornflower tea in front of me.

“ I haven’t seen anyone strange as of the moment, but there were crows mostly on rooftops, some of them were hiding on the trees as if they were—Watching “ The child looked down on the ground, mentioning the last word precisely while answered Father in his neutral tone, then grabbed something from my pocket. “ While my siblings were distracted watching the show, someone was eyeing us for a moment at the alley way. I tried to attack him in my disguise but he ran off the moment that I knew of his existence. I wasn’t able to catch him and bring him to you—But I was able to provide evidence of the stalker’s existence. “ He gave the folded handkerchief that was folded in two. 

Father took the evidence then opened the towel, looking at it familiarly of the ripped clothing with a small green geometric pattern and solid dark red, stained a bit of the stalker’s blood. Once Father took a look at it, he closed the handkerchief and placed it on the coffee table.

“ Did any of them know that they were being watched by an intruder? “ Father asked, the figure shook their head in reply.

“ Very good. Keep this secret from your siblings, my Hidden Rabbit “ He complimented. The dark clouds, which moved slowly covering the moonlight from one of the displayed windows on the right side of the wall. Father stood up from his couch and dusted himself off.

“ Tomorrow, we may need to increase our security system for the important guests tomorrow night. I do not want to see any disturbances during the party. Although you may be busy, I expect you to keep watch of everything, Genya on the other hand will be on watch for possible intruders—don’t let him know that you’re helping him “ Father commanded, as the figure nodded without hesitation. Father finally stood up from the couch, as the figuew was about to leave he suddenly asked him softly.

“ Did you enjoy the show earlier? “ The child looked up and nodded, Father hummed in satisfaction and continued “ They're one of the guests who’ll be attending on Friday. “ Father spoke up and nodded, adding them to the checklist of the guests to be protected. The dark clouds finally moved away from the moon, slowly shining down on the living room. Father placed his hand on the figure’s shoulder and looked at them in satisfaction and pride in his eyes, the moonlight finally brightened up the room exposing Father’s little spy on the spot. 

“ I’m glad that you personally enjoyed it. The performance on the town awhile ago, was my gift to you for your obedience and for the never-ending success of your personal mission, Senjuro “ As Father mentioned my name, I looked him in his eyes and softly smiled at him with gratitude.

“ Thank you, Father. I’ll forever be grateful for all the things you have done for me and my siblings. I’ll do my best to keep an eye on all of them on the day of the event. “ 

“ Keep doing that. Go to sleep now, you might need all the energy you can get to decorate the place for the event “ When Father went back to his quarters, I quietly sneaked my way towards the room, closing the door quietly, changing into my pajamas, closed my eyes and slept on the bed throughout the night.

The figure earlier from the village, has been hiding on one of the trees with a top view of the mansion, spying on them for confirmation that they have been residing at this place. He kept watching the mansion for any demons of at least someone guarding the place. Over the past hours, not one person has been on their night patrol duty, making his inside rumble in uncomfortability.

He’s been lied to again. He sacrificed his energy not wasting much free time in searching for them, no matter how they kept convincing him to give up on searching for the children believing that they were all dead. Even if he did, he kept hearing their voices, pleading mercifully for their help to the figure which made him wake up in the middle of the night worrying about their condition.

As he was carefully watching the mansion while the crow delivered the message to the Demon Slayer Headquarters, he didn’t realize the danger behind him. A gunshot was fired as the bullet flew towards the intruder, luckily he dodged it just in time after hearing a small movement. Genya loudly exclaimed to the mysterious intruder.

“ Show yourself! “ The figure looked at Genya, with his usual emotionless expression and pitiful eyes, he had no choice but to show himself while his nose and mouth were covered with a towel, tied behind to the back of his head.

“ You’ve been watching us for the past few weeks—Just who are you exactly? “ Genya aimed his gun at the mysterious person. He made a run for it, and jumped to the forest to get away but no matter how he tried to run, Genya’s speed was way too fast like a humming bird's rapid wings. He unsheathed his nichirin sword out, defending himself from him trying to attack him, with the upper barrel of the gun, allowing him to stop the sword’s movement temporarily, nearly having a face to face with the figure.

“ Surrender peacefully and you won’t be harmed, stranger! “ Genya exclaimed to the intruder. The figure felt his own body aching and being pushed through as if the ground was nearly swallowing him whole the more force he’d applied. He looked around for a gateway or an opening to land an attack on him, yet there were no possible openings for him, he had no choice but to disappear again.

“ I’m sorry, Genya. “ the figure muttered in surrender and conscience.

“ You- “ Before Genya could speak, a ball immediately fell to the ground that unleashed a large fog of smoke on the forest that making him cough a lot and swat the smoke away with his hands, trying to find the intruder around him. Once the smoke finally cleared off his surroundings, he was no longer there only being surrounded with the trees that he personally destroyed and a pantless ground. He'd known that the intruder got away—again.    

“ Curse that bastard!“ Genya kicked to the ground angrily with his fangs barely showing and his once normal eyes shifted to his black sclera and yellow irises panting rapidly. He ran back to the mansion after he calmed down with a serious look on his face “ I have to inform Father immediately, he knows what to do in this situation! “


He kept running back to the mansion, and stopped his tracks for a moment, with his heels on the ground stopping his vast movement, now in a deep thought, questioning himself with a recollection in his face that bothered him a lot. 

“  Wait a minute— How does it know my name? “

Chapter Text

Did you really think that I wouldn’t know your plan to sacrifice yourself for your children?—You should have kept your eyes all of the pillar's tsugoku. 

It’s too late.

“ Senjuro! “ Rengoku screamed from the top of his lungs in disbelief, as he held a piece of his little brother’s haori, the once smiling face Rengoku had now faded into grief and breakdown letting tears formed from his eyes

“ Bullshit! That's what Muzan wants us to believe and none of you— listen to me like I was some mentally broken person, you’re becoming like them “

“ I thought that you of all would believe me, I thought maybe that you’ll listen to me—But I was wrong “

“ That should shut you up. By the way, I would like to thank you for luring the Hashiras for me, former Water Hashira “

Chapter Text

It’s the middle of winter when Kagaya finally puts his plan in motion without informing the rest of the Hashiras regardless of his sacrifice. Finally being able to receive the dynamite from Tengen, the former Sound Hashira didn’t ask questions further, placing it all underneath their home to try and end Muzan, trying to help the Hashiras one last time before he’ll finally die. The children, stationed outside of the house, and his wife right beside him.

He waited for Muzan’s arrival—But somehow, he felt his stomach churn in anxiousness with a gut feeling that something felt very wrong, but didn’t know what it was. He lets his wife assist him back on to his futon until he hears something rustling, a screeching sound outside of his home, expecting to face Muzan Kibutsuji in the flesh while mocking him and persuading him to join his cause. The shadow grew bigger and bigger, allowing himself to feel prepared to face him.

Until its head was chopped off, none other than Nezuko Kamado. She appeared before me panting heavily, his haori covered in dust, cuts and blood. Her forehead was dripping in blood that it fell to the ground, with a paper gripping on her hand, she looked at Ooyakata-sama in desperation for help, and fainted in front of him, landing on the side of the futon. While his wife was trying to wake Nezuko up, allowing her to reside unconsciously in Ubuyashiki's room, he immediately opened the letter, with his hands shaking in anxiety and self-predicting that the scenery that he’d had on his head was finally coming true.

Did you really think that I wouldn’t know your plan to sacrifice yourself for your children?—You should have kept your eyes on the pillar's tsugoku.  

I have to warn them now! Kagaya thought in worry, then finally exclaimed to his wife “ Inform all of the Hashiras to head to Mount Natagumo now! “
 

Six hours earlier…

All of the Kamaboko Squad finally arrived at Mount Natagumo that gave Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke a recollection of their own encounters with the Spider family. Each and every single one of them were holding their nichirin swords in case of a surprise attack from demons. Genya decided to check mostly on the upper part of the forest while Kanao looked on the west side of the forest.

“ Nee Tanjiro-san “ Zenitsu looked at Tanjiro, Inosuke on the other hand was yelling loudly, laughing like some insane maniac, running around in search of demons. “ Do we really have to go back here? “ He asked.

“ We can’t do much sadly since we were assigned here, there was a report of a demon sighting back in Mount Natagumo “ Tanjiro answered.

“ But you killed the Lower Moon Five? Why nwould it be still alive- “ Zenitsu whined, feeling scared of the whole forest. Every time a noise was made, he clung onto Tanjiro’s for assistance as it turned out to be just a simple squirrel on a tree.

“ Be careful, Nezuko’s sleeping inside “ Tanjiro mentioned the sleeping Nezuko on the wooden box. With the name  of his sister brought up, Zenitsu immediately stopped being a coward for a moment and cooed remembering the beauty of Nezuko with an excited feeling that Nezuko joined in a mission for the first time. Tanjiro ignored the blushing Zenitsu and stared at Kanao in nervousness and doubt.

“ Yeah. I have a bad feeling about this personally “ Genya spoke. Kanao just landed down on the ground in front of him.

“ I checked the west part of the forest but—There were no traces of a demon in sight. “ Kanao suspected, then asked “ Should we report this back to Ooyakata-sama? “.

Before Tanjiro answered, Inosuke interrupted “ Nah! Why would we report back! Listen up you two- “ Inosuke spoke in his high voice and continued. “ If a demon is in sight, we kill it! “ He let out a loud laugh while swinging his nichirin swords around as he ran heading straight forward.

“ Inosuke, wait! We have to stick together! “ Tanjiro yelled, he wasn’t able to stop him from running. Kanao just remembered that Genya went in the opposite direction of the forest, taking a look for any demon in sight.

“ Tanjiro-san, did Genya report back any suspicious activities around Mount Natagumo? “ Kanao asked in concern, he stopped his tracks— having this negative feeling, as if they were being played into their hands.

“ Hey Zenitsu, can you try to hear Genya’s heartbeat? “ Tanjiro asked Zenitsu a favor. At first he wanted to whine in fear and run like the coward he is, but seeing the male’s expression—made him drop off of the selfish act he’ll put off. Zenitsu, placing his nichirin sword on the ground, sat on the ground upright with the buttocks rested on the heels and both hands were placed behind his ears and eyes closed, focusing on the sound of Genya’s heartbeat. Seconds passed by as Zenitsu opened his eyes in shock and fear.

“ Tanjiro—I can’t find Genya’s heartbeat around Mount Natagumo “ Zenitsu looked at him with fear in his eyes, then just a second later he tilted his head sideways noticing the absence of a certain someone, Tanjiro looked behind them, both noticing the absence of Kanao.

“ Where’s Kanao?! “ Zenitsu asked the panicking Tanjiro, exclaiming in his own voice while taking her nichirin sword. Before Tanjiro could make a decision to report to Ubuyashiki, a loud scream was heard far away from where they were standing. Without a second thought, the remaining two rushed over to the northeast side of Mount Natagumo.

“ Inosuke! “ Tanjiro used all of his stamina and began to run rapidly while yelling their names over and over again, worried that three of his friends might be in danger. As both of them rushed to the source of the screams, they ended up in the middle of the forest where the flow of water was heard meters away from where they were standing.

Some of the trees were all down, the remaining trees had forms of cuts and destroyed logs, but on the ground lies Inosuke’s two chipped swords remained untouched with bloodstains at the edge of it. Zenitsu used his sense of hearing to locate the missing slayer and Tanjiro went near to Inosuke’s sword, observing it and took a quick sniff on the sword.

“ Inosuke was just here awhile ago, the blood on the sword we’re still fresh—Someone’s been playing with us… Tanjiro kept mumbling to himself. Zenitsu looked at him in worry and decided to look up in the sky for a sense of guidance from the moon, but what the child saw made him frightened. Without ever looking at Tanjiro’s direction, he tugged his green checkered haori hard until he got his attention.

“ What now - “

When Zenitsu grasped the bottom of his chin hard forcing him to look up, his eyes darted upwards in irritation that when he looked up the realization finally sunk into him, his mouth remained a bit gaped, speechless that he cannot convey a word out of him, his red eyes paled in fear of what he was witnessing the moment both of them looked up.

On the glistening moon above the night sky, were three of his friends tangled up by tentacles from human bodies, barely looking at the two of them below due to their ribcage being constantly tightened that prevented them from performing breathing techniques. Shinazugawa Genya, conscious with his mouth covered, as tentacles slowly and kept restraining his legs, arms and neck as his forehead was bleeding a lot, that could possibly be the reason as to why he was weakened temporarily.

Inosuke Hashibira, had most of his body wrapped around with tentacles especially in the mouth, that it tightens his ankles, wrists and around his upper body that prevents him from using his flexibility to escape. Until now, he was trying to move around to find an opening path to cut off and break loose of the tentacles. Kanao on the other hand kept rebelling and moving around making the tentacles let her go, her mouth was also gagged by the tentacles that she’d let out a loud muffle.

“ Kanao! “ Tanjiro yelled, he looked Zenitsu in the eyes, making him understand the next course of action. As both of them were about to use a Breathing Technique freeing their friends, Tanjiro smelled the ominous presence, knowing whose presence belonged to—Muzan Kibutsuji.

“ Muzan Kibutsuji! “ Tanjiro’s calm and serious voice became loud and angry as he yelled his name. The man walked in his usual outfit on the first day Tanjiro encountered him but he was wearing a black coat knowing the snowy winter that may begin soon with a soft evil smile on his face.

“ We finally met again! Kamado. At first I thought I would be able to take you down alone in the forest since I purposely made one of the demons appear in this very same mountain that everything started, but to my surprise, your pathetic friends came along with you—Especially her “ Muzan plastered a smile. Tanjiro knew who he was referring to, instinctively, he placed the wooden box down behind him and used himself as a shield for the wooden box, but what shocked the eldest the most is Zenitsu stepping forward, with his nichirin sword out and aimed towards him.

“ You leave Nezuko-chan alone. I don’t know why you need her but let me make it clear for you- “ Zenitsu took a deep breath, then stared at the Demon King threateningly, cold and serious in the eyes and continued “ No matter what you’re planning to do with her, we won’t let you succeed “

Muzan was a little bit impressed by the child, at the same time he wasn’t even unfazed, not even a tiny bit “ I’m impressed that you truly wish to defend Kamado from me. But you should know- “

Before Zenitsu could hear what Muzan had to say, one of the tentacles on his right slammed him into the nearby tree, causing him to hit his head behind by the log while being covered in human tentacles restraining his upper body. Luckily he was still conscious yet struggling to break free.

“ Zenitsu! “ Tanjiro yelled, the other two who were restrained yelled for the Lightning Slayer to fight and help Tanjiro in stopping Muzan temporarily. The demons appeared behind Tanjiro as they all crawled to his location, fully surrounding him.

Tanjiro used his breathing and ran up to them while tilting his sword downward allowing for the blade to be exposed “ Water Breathing Third Form: Flowing Dance “ he swung and bended the blade in a winding motion along with their body slicing every demons in front of him in a flowing pattern.

“ First Form: Thunderclap and Flash “ As Zenitsu mumbled, he decapitated the tentacles at a blinding speed. He can now assist Tanjiro in his fight with the demon.

“  Fourth Form: Striking Tide “ Tanjiro yelled while making multiple conservative slashes while twisting their body and sword.

“ First Form: Thunderclap and Flash Sixfold! “ Zenitsu, nearly aware slashes thr demons in different angles, killing them instantly. They were succeeding, once this is over they can be able to-

Before both of them could slash another one of the demons, the tentacle nearly got them—If Nezuko didn’t use her arm to protect her brother and friend. Both children were shocked and yelled her name “ Nezuko! “

Finally joining the fight, all three of them synchronize and kill the rest of the demons thinking that they were now succeeding, as Tanjiro eliminated the last demon, Zenitsu and him were nearly tired except for Nezuko who glared at Muzan like the predator he is. Zenitsu was able to rescue the three of them from the tentacles that they all landed safely, now facing Muzan with mixed emotions. Tanjiro, with the blade in his hand was about to unleash his Hinokami Kaguro at him but he was interrupted when Muzan spoke, for some reason with a smug look on his face knowing that he’ll be stopped.

“ If you really want to end me that badly, be my guest —but I’m taking this brat down with me “ As Muzan grabbed a figure that has been hidden in one of the bushes, a child was tied up and knocked out unconscious been lifted by the collar stand of his yukata and juban. Everyone froze in realization, knowing who Muzan’s hostage was.

“ Senjuro! Let him go Muzan! “ Tanjiro’s veins popped angrily, staring at the man with hatred, same goes for the rest. Muzan chuckled in laughter, with his free hand grasping underneath his chin hardly, making him wince and stare at the others.

“ You know—One of my demons spotted this boy sneaking behind all of you, trying to follow you just so that he could see a real fight as a slayer, and it was rude of me to leave a guest hiding and letting them wait when I can just take him secretly and entertain it while I wait for your arrival “ Muzan forced Senjuro to look at them, that he’d shed a tear feeling scared and helpless.

“ I’m sorry- I wanted to see you guys fight a demon- “ Senjuro stared at them as if trying to explain themselves, but Muzan quicker than ever covered his mouth, silencing him for a bit.

“ Now, drop your nichirin katana down to the ground or you’ll be going home with the head of Flame Hashira’s dearest younger brother. “ Muzan threatened them, summoning his human tentacles, turning them into a sharp blade, aimed at his throat.

Everyone felt helpless and confused as to what to do, only relying on Tanjiro to tell them what to do. Tanjiro had to think twice. Either Tanjiro risks Senjuro’s life, who isn’t a slayer able to defend himself or do the peaceful option saving him; Tanjiro spoke quietly “ Put all your weapons down to the ground, now. “

“ Hah! Are you crazy?! If we do that he might kill us for real- “ As Genya gripped Tanjiro’s shoulder forcing him to stare at his defiant eyes on not to give into his demands, Tanjiro’s red eyes stared back at him in guilt and pleaded to cooperate with Muzan for once.

Without a choice despite Genya’s frustration, looking at the rest and nodding, he dropped his western barrel gun and the slayers also dropping their nichirin swords to the ground, both hands in the air and backing away in three steps as the tentacles slowly glides to their weapons, giving them to Muzan.

“ Now let him go. “ Tanjiro looked at Muzan seriously as the man spoke, he sighed in annoyance and threw Senjuro at them as they were able to quickly untangle Senjuro from the binds. On his first instinct, he hugged him tightly after being scared, he was finally able to breathe.

“  Now leave. “ Tanjiro looked at Muzan, forced him to leave in his threatening voice. Muzan just stared at the children and chuckled.

“ Oh I’ll leave alright. “ The slayers sighed in relief, just as they were about to leave peacefully Zenitsu and Tanjiro sensed something’s very wrong. Zenitsu with his hearing heard the loud rumble from the ground hearing multiple movements underneath the ground while Tanjiro smelled the ominous aura of Muzan’s Blood Demon Art.

“ Get her away from here now! “ All the three remaining injured and weakened slayers yelled from the top of their lungs in fear and realization. He quickly used the last bit of his strength and movement, ran towards his little sister with Zenitsu, pushed her away hardly from where she was standing and made her fall to the ground, away from where she was standing.

Stab! 

Everyone stood in their place, only hearing the sound of their own breathing, the tentacles formed into a large thorn that pierced through their bodies, Tanjiro looked at Nezuko then below to see something pierced through his stomach. Nezuko was shocked that they pushed her away—Preventing to be stabbed by Muzan. Her friends, especially her own brother, fell to the ground on their knees. She looked at all of them in horror at the fact that she witnessed them all being stabbed.

Blood dripped down from where it hurt so much, most of them were badly injured after the fight with the tentacles still stabbing at the slayers. One by one, the three slayers dropped to the ground blacking out for a while except Inousuke who tried staying up, protecting his friends from the bad demon.

Nezuko shaked his brother, pleading with him to escape and report back to Ubuyashiki “ I…can’t Nezuko. There’s not much time.. “ Tanjiro’s been stabbed nearly at his heart, coughing out bits of blood to the ground. “ Get away from here…and get help… “ He coughed.

“ Oh do tell Ubuyashii that his plan failed “ As she heard his voice behind her ear, her back shivered and jumped away but Muzan held the back of her head, slamming her to the ground so hard that her head was bleeding a lot. He continued, walking up to the demon that he was trying to get and handed Nezuko a letter that made her glare at him instinctively.

“ Give this letter to him, or you might actually join your brother and your friends to the other side “ Muzan grinned evilly. Nezuko was about to leave, but she asked Muzan in her bamboo muzzle, speaking small words enough for Muzan to understand.

“ At first that was the goal—But I gave up on trying to take you all for myself. Go along now and be free “ Muzan looked at her grinning with evil and success, with no other choice but to report back to Muzan immediately she left. When he felt Nezuko’s presence disappearing by its distance, he turned his head towards the children who’d been bleeding excessively to the ground.

Genya’s head tilted his head slowly sideways while trying to heal himself but was unable to do so, while Inosuke, Zenitsu, Senjuro and Kanao were all unconscious, possibly losing a lot of blood from their body,  unable to use their breathing techniques nor their total concentration. Tanjiro, stubborn as ever, stared at Muzan with anger and hatred, he wasn’t able to cohere a word out of his mouth, letting himself lie on the ground full of dirt and slowly losing his vision until he heard Muzan’s last words before blacking in front of him.

“ Take them all back to our secret location… I have huge plans for the children “

It’s too late.

By the time the Hashiras arrived on Mount Natagumo, nobody was there anymore besides the burnt trees, smashed ground and six pieces of the children’s clothing with Muzan’s claw marks so that they could know who killed them. Everyone was mortified as they processed the realization except for Sanemi, Muichiro and Iguro, that they lost their tsugoku. Rengoku went up to the remaining haori and he recognized one of them—It was his little brother.

“ Senjuro! “ Rengoku screamed from the top of his lungs in disbelief, as he held a piece of his little brother’s haori, the once smiling face Rengoku had now faded into grief and breakdown letting tears formed from his eyes, his hand clutched to where his aching heart was. All of his efforts into trying to become the Hahsira for his family, especially to his little brother—Now went all to nothing.

Everyone went back quietly to the Ubuyashiki state with sadness in their eyes. Iguro comforted Mitsuri as she kept crying on her way back, remembering the scene around her and the children, especially Tanjiro whose life had been all taken by the hands of Muzan. She remembered Tanjiro’s calm and kind personality whenever she talked to him and how she always appreciated how he never once looked at her with lust in his eyes despite of her body figure, she loved braiding Nezuko’s hair despite being a demon she is and hugged all of them especially Genya after their fight with Upper Moon Four. 

Gyomei just silently prayed quietly on his way back muttering ‘ Namu Amida Butsu ’ with tears forming from his eyes. Shinobu, the ever calm ones while trying to not show defeat gripped the remaining haori piece of Kanao as hard as she could as she lost two of her sisters, with that realization it broke her heart, her head tilted down to prevent anyone seeing her frustration. Muchiro could do nothing but feel sad and offered comfort to Shinobu.

Sanemi, witnessing the quiet tension on their way back, didn't feel anything as he only just gripped the remains of Genya’s purple yukata. Everyone had their own ways of grieving, they weren't just able to accept it quickly.

When they all arrived back safely they all saw the Kakushi and slayers awaiting them, all lined up. Once Ubuyashiki saw them, he was about to open his mouth regarding their condition, but their faces said it all, the quiet thin air around the chilly night. The Master realized how bad it was for the Demon Corps and to them.

Without saying anything, he realized that all of the children were dead, especially Tanjiro.

Over the next few days, everyone took a break after their defeat, the loss of their tsugoku. Muichiro even the forgetful ones didn’t say anything, he just looked at the log that he once took his anger out on, now going back to it and smashed it as hard as he could, feeling frustrated and regretting for not accompanying them to their mission had he just listened in the meeting just this once, accepted Kagaya's request in assisting them on thier mission instead of looking up at the clouds as his daily habit.

Mitsuri wasn’t feeling well, some say she spent her time looking at the window in sadness and pale eyes—Without any motivation to go outside or at least cook most of her favorite foods nearly starving herself, thankfully Iguro comforted the Love Hashira and helped her process the loss and Rengoku, just stayed silent and comforted her. Iguro may not have liked Tanjiro not even once, but he protected Mitsuri during the Swordsmith Village, for once he owes him a lot and felt sorry for his demon sister, they only had each other after the death of their family and now that one of them is gone. His death may have possibly taken a toll on her—He may not have accepted her fully in the Corps, but he'll try to comfort and be there for her for once.

Gyomei on the other hand kept praying and praying for his tsugoku, Genya to cross to the afterlife safely, the same time he couldn’t help but worry about Sanemi's processing of grief, since Genya after all, is his little brother. Last time he heard from one of the slayers, he didn’t want to see anybody for the mean time and destroyed all the dummies on his own backyard of the mansion.

Shinobu, after telling Aoi and several children especially Naho, Sumie and Kiyo, they all broke down to tears knowing their relation with Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu but Shinobu after three days, decided to stay strong and move forward, aiming their goal to avenge, the children especially Kanao.

When Tengen got home in defeat and guilt, he told the death of the children to his three wives. Hinatsuri, the third wife covered her mouth and nose with both of her hands, looking at him with disbelief asking more information of how they died, Suma cried for Tanjiro and the rest feeling that they didn't deserve to be killed by Muzan and lastly, Makio feeling frustrated clenched her own hands in anger and the same time she expressed her concern towards Nezuko who lost her friends and brother at the same time. At some point someone has to take care of her since Tanjiro is no longer around anymore. 

As for Rengoku, when he came home to his drunken Father who was already in a bad mood he told him the death of Senjuro Rengoku, both of them argued and fought a lot that when he pushed his own Father, that shattered the vase, the one that he gifted to his wife after the birth of Senjuro. His Father finally broke down into the eldest arms, having to face the reality that he'd lost his son, and failed to be the adult figure for both of them. 

During the funeral, all of the slayers honored the Tsugokus, especially Tanjiro, most of the slayers cried for him for his kind and cheerful personality, especially the way he took care of them during the Hashira Training. Nezuko was asleep but felt the sadness around her realizing that she could only see him forever in her dreams.

None of them could find Giyuu—Last time they heard, he mourned and had a breakdown, breaking every furniture in the mansion for the death of Tanjiro, after all he did reminded him of his dead best friend Sabito. Now that he'd lost him too, he didn't have much reason to live. Shinobu nearly caught Giyuu killing himself so he had to be restrained and to be under surveillance by Urokodaki-sensei, who was also saddened by the news of Tanjiro's death. 

Today was a dull winter, the season where Muzan had finally break their hopes into ending the demons once and for all. 

“ Someone…help us.. “ 

“ Please see us.” 

“ Hear us “ 

“ I want to go home… “ 

“ PLEASE! “ 

Giyuu woke up vastly, sweating down from his forehead panting from the same nightmare that he was having every night. What was that? He asked himself. He looked outside and realized that it was in the morning, smelling the cooking of a familiar someone. He got up from bed slowly and stared at Urokodaki.

“ Did you sleep well last night? “ His sensei asked. Giyuu just nodded silently. 

Ever since he finally accepted the death of Tanjiro he had been too quiet around the Hashiras only speaking unless it was very important. He wasn't going out as usual for his favorite food, because it reminded him of the bond he had with Tanjiro, he visits Nezuko often with a sad look and determination in her eyes wishing us to avenge her friends and Tanjiro even if she wouldn't be able to, he spends time with her and tells her of the dreams he'd been having every single night. Shinobu says that it's just a dream, nothing more.

No matter how much he avoided it, it still came back to him like a leech. Some of the Hashiras except for Sanemi and Rengoku, tried their best to cheer him up, it was hard for him to accept that they were dead—But he could hear their voices in his sleep. It wasn't an ordinary dream, he had to go to the Ubuyashiki state to report what he had seen.

“ I have to go out. “ Giyuu spoke for the first time around Urokodaki-sensei. His sensei sighed.

“ If this was all about the dream that you saw, you have to let him go Giyuu… He's been dead for five years. We have to accept it “ Urokodaki-sensei said negatively.

“ No! “ He stood up from his place and continued” If they were dead, we should have seen their corpses! I would have seen at least a shed of their blood but it wasn't there- “

“ Muzan ripped a piece of Tanjiro's- “

“ Bullshit! That's what Muzan wants us to believe and none of you— listen to me like I was some mentally broken person, you’re actually becoming one of them “ Giyuu yelled angrily, feeling betrayed. He just stood up and walked out, before he did he saw the left out red mochi that was for Sanemi when Tanjiro recommended him that, he then stared at Urokodaki-sensei, still staring at him in shock and left immediately before he could say anything.

As he went outside to report to Ubuyashiki, he recalled the events that happened 5 years ago. Ever since their death, the demons have been laying low asides from their random appearance in different places. Iguro and Mitsuri were officially engaged, wishing for the wedding to be held after Muzan was defeated. Shinobu focused her time with Nezuko and Tamayo in making the antidote to turn them back to humans.

As for Sanemi, Gyomei, Tengen and Muichiro they've been training the slayers harshly to the point of exhaustion, but despite all that, they didn't want to give up—That's what would Tanjiro do if the Hashiras were harsh in their training, staying determined and motivated.

Rengoku took a week break after him and his Father reconciled. Shinjuro, tried to bond with his son before fully returning  to his duties as the Former Flame Hashira, training beside along with his son, wishing to grow and to be strong to be able to defeat Muzan and to have quality time withe Rengoku. Everyday, he'd visited Shinobu for therapy allowing him to deal with his inferiority against the Sun Breathing Technique and processing the death of his beloved wife. After following the Butterfly Pillar's instructions on improving himself physically and implementing positive thinking—Shinjuro once negligent and abusive personality, was now officially back to his calm, enthusiastic and kind personality.

For awhile now, he continuously exercised to get his body physique back, trained his own breathing techniques and finally cut his long hair. After efficient and daily trainings, he looked like during his prime as the former Flame Hashira, that even the Kakushi women didn't want to look away from him, always melting everytime they see him. Iguro on the other was shocked and secretly awed at the former Hashira who once saved him during his childhood and was proud of him in finding the motivation to get back up again. Shinjuro spend days and nights into improving Flame Breathing Techniques which he once did in his era and creates new Flame Breathing Techniques to to be able to inflict heavy damage onto the demons without feeling the exhaustion after breathing, allowing him to pass it to him which may be useful in the near future. If Zenitsu was there, he would have been gawking jealousy of Rengoku's dad being handsome for no reason, and whenever Rengoku sometimes looked at the sky, he'd think that if Senjuro was only alive by now—He would have been proud at his own Father, finally taking care of himself physically and mentally.

When Giyuu arrived in the Ubuyashiki state, he waited for the master's presence patiently, realizing the changes in his home. It became brighter again, after Shinobu was able to find a way to remove the curse from his body, he was able to recover slowly with physical therapy even though he wasn't able to join the fight with them. He took the blame for not expecting this from Muzan, the Hashiras convinced him not to kill himself knowing how much they still needed him. After so much convincing, he decided not to go with that plan and recover for the meantime.

“ I'm so glad that you were able to step out of the house, Giyuu-san, “ Ooyakata-sama smiled softly. His physical appearance went back to normal and his strength been restored into his body, Giyuu bowed in front of him and spoke “ I'm glad Ubuyashiki-sama been doing well “

He lifted his hand up and responded “ Please, lessen the pleasantries. So what brings you here? “ He asked. Giyuu hesitated to tell him at first but-

“ I kept having these visions every night. “ Giyuu explained in guilt “ They were all calling out my name—They wanted me to find them. I have a feeling that they’re still alive, so please let me- “ He is clinging onto that hope that maybe the Master believes him, that he could also feel that they’re still alive. He pleaded for all his life, facing him with a determined look on his face.

“ I’m sorry Giyuu, I cannot allow you to do that “ His once determined look shattered something inside of him. He stared at the Master in disbelief, and before asking he spoke.

“ Giyuu Tomioka, it’s been 2 years since we gave up finding the children. The Kakushi’s and the Hashiras looked everywhere for them, but all of them came back empty-handed. Nobody had spotted them alive, because if they were still alive they would have returned to us, instead all we have is their haori. They may be dead, but those people will keep their tsugoku in their hearts no matter what. Everyone accepted and moved on—Please Giyuu, stop hurting yourself, we need you in this fight since Tanjiro, who may be the key to defeating Muzan, has been lost in our grasp. I beg of you, don’t blame yourself for their death. “ Ubuyashiki stared at Giyuu with pitiful eyes and guilt in his expression. Giyuu didn’t speak to the Master and just got up from his futon, heading to the door.

“ I thought that you of all people would believe me, I thought maybe that you’ll listen to me— But I was wrong “ Giyu left sliding the door furiously.

In the middle of the night, Giyuu packed some of his belongings, food and clothes preparing to disappear from the Demon Corps. He was able to put Urokodaki-sensei to sleep for a bit longer, placing the letters, one for him and the other for Ubuyashiki-Sensei and the Hashiras to hear. He slid the shoji on the right slowly and quietly exited the mansion without letting the slayers catch him leaving in the middle of the night.

He walked away from his mansion in the night, as he was about to exit the border of the Ubuyashiki, a crow flew onto his shoulder. It wasn’t Kabumaru, it was Tanjiro's crow, Matsuemon Tennoji. The bird cawed with movement, flapping its wings toward him as if he was requesting the Water Hashira to let him come if he wished to find the children immediately.

He looked at the crow in his usual pale eyes and spoke “ Very well. Let's head out now. “ As Giyuu looked back for a moment, he finally walked away from the territory, leaving the Hashiras and Ubuyashiki-sama behind in search of the children who are possibly alive. 

Matsumenon Tennoji flew safely back to the Ubuyashiki State, despite his injury that gained the attention of all crows, notifying them and they all proceeded into forcing the Hashiras into the Ubuyashiki State, as a result for the sudden lift off of their crows, the Hashiras with Nezuko beside them, followed Tanjiro’s crow.

Ubuyashiki was admiring the view of the pond on his own personal garden, finally happy to be healthy after all these years, until the crow landed on the Master’s shoulder, dropping the letter into his hand and the crows landed on the small wooden railing.

“ Isn’t that—Tanjiro’s crow? “  Mitsuri muttered.

“ It is. It seems that he has a message for the Master. “ Rengoku muttered as he cut his hair short in honor of his little brother. When Kagaya Ubuyashiki got the letter in his hand, he slowly read it knowing who it was from. While the other crows looked at their returned crow full of injuries and bandages.

Kagaya's eyes widened in disbelief and shock, finally staring at the Hashiras, while holding the paper “ Children—It’s Giyuu. “

Sanemi spoke up “ What about that arrogant bastard that left us during our crisis? “ He scowled, still hating Giyuu for leaving the position of a Hashira.

“ Giyuu-san has reached out to us through Tanjiro's crow and… “ Ubuyashiki hesitated.

“ What does the letter say, Master? “ Shinobu asked anxiously. Ubuyashiki stared at them with mixed emotions of hope, relief and guilt. 

“ Giyuu—He found all of your tsugokus, they're all alive. “ Ubuyashiki spoke. Rengoku was shocked to hear this, finding out that his little brother is alive out there made him happy, it would bring good news to his Father.

Shinobu broke down crying in relief, being comforted by Mitsuri, Gyomei and Muichiro who are now crying with her. Sanemi stayed silent and looked away, with Iguro looking at the Wind Hashira in concern.

“ Then we can go find them then- “ Mitsuri spoke cheerfully. Ubuyashiki spoke again.

“ However, there's something all of you need to know. “ He stared at his children, looking at them with seriousness and rage in his eyes “ Your tsugokus we're been kept all this time, none other than- 

In the dark room, the man in a tuxedo suit disguised as one of the servants in the mansion with his hair was messed up a lot after the grip of the lord of the mansion, haori being placed on the table with the hidden nichirin sword on his formal outfit, being confiscated. The figure sat on a wooden chair, wearing a straightjacket as a restraint from a Blood Demon Art, his ankles were strapped to the front leg tightly. 

Drip. 

Drip.

The sound that the man could hear was the IV fluids, slowly dripping from the tubing to the veins of the captive man. He panted tiredly, his control over his mind slowly losing, slipping away including the light in his eyes slowly disappearing due to the dosage.

Father stood in front of the captured man, with the man looked at him in pure hatred after mainly being injured by the children in the house “ You'll… never get away… with this- “

Before the figure speaks, Father wrapped around a rough towel by the figure's mouth, tying it at the back of his neck, preventing him to speak which forced him to gnaw his teeth to the rough towel as he went for the metal door and before he left he spoke one final time.

“ That should shut you up. By the way—I would like to thank you for luring the Hashiras for me, former Water Hashira “

Chapter Text

Giyuu, who was struggling to break free of the binds, was contained in a room. Wrists, both strapped on the arm of the wooden asylum restraint chair for the mentally unstable, the clothing he wore was nearly ripped after running—He had no idea where he was and unable to locate his surroundings due to the darkness of the room. The figure opened the door as he'd tried his best to recognize the figure with a candle holder, Giyuu's eyes widen in shock to see a familiar face.  

“ I expected your arrival, Water Hashira. “ The figure smirked evilly. 

8 hours ago…

The children were preparing for the party on sundown, having their final checks of the food, supplies and hors d’ oeuvres for the incoming guests. Tanjiro along with Senjuro and Inosuke checked all the utensils and food, especially adding racks to hang their personal coats. Tanjiro checked on his checklist

“ Inosuke! How’s decorating the chandelier been doing? “ He asked.

“ Everything’s fine, Tanjiro! “ Inosuke made a final decoration on the chandelier to set the mood for the party later. Kanao on the other hand threw utensils perfectly, setting the table just right. Everyone admired the room for a moment, black curtains by the window, the lights being dimmed a little and their souvenirs were ready on the table before they would all leave. Once they were finished, they went into their rooms to fit into their outfit made by Kanao’s expert sewing skills. 

The sun no longer shined onto the night sky, as all the 200 guests arrived just in time while all the children were stationed to where they were supposed to be, Genya checked on the guest’s invitations confirming their identity as Muzan’s guest. Both male and female, whether couples or single were in their designated outfit as per the instructions on the letter. All of them wore black colored outfits, with different kinds of masks covering the eye level, keeping their identity hidden for the whole night. 

One of them, a figure with black long hair, gave the letter to the bodyguard, which he observed up and down for any suspicions. He was finally cleared and Genya said “ You may come in, enjoy the party! “ 

The figure just nodded and headed inside of the mansion, unknown to him that the actual guest was slaughtered by him, entering casually without letting anyone know the impostor among them. Meanwhile, Senjuro who was hidden in the shadows by the rooftop looked at the figure that entered suspiciously, doubting the guest appearance and decided to shrug it off. 

The living room was lit dimly with a hint of a white light onto the room, the figure observed the guests, chattering, laughing and clinked their wine glass together, the servants serving the guest with hors d’oeuvre as they were offered one, they gracefully took it and ate it and went straight to the bathroom which was on the end of the right hall, just below the Lord’s room. 

As they locked themselves into the bathroom, they fixed themselves and took off the black mask that nearly unleashed a smell of blood and underneath it—was none other than Tomioka Giyuu, the man who swore to find the children and bring them safely. 

He looked in front of the mirror and fixed himself, tying his hair behind and trying to look neat during the party. “ I finally snuck in. By the time Tanjiro's crow sends the letter to Ubiyashiki, then they can prepare in advance to rescue all of them. For now, I have to observe everything for now. “

Giyuu closed the door behind him and went back to the living room to socialize, pretending to get along with them. He felt like he was nearly drunk, his face flushed nearly red, resisting from the temptation of drinking alcohol. He decided to get some fresh air, flushing out the effects from his body. 

As he went out alone on the balcony, he recalled what he had gathered. According to what he'd seen,they guests somehow were invited to the masquerade for the Lord's birthday, Tanjiro and the rest were all talking to the guest but Senjuro wasn't nowhere to be found, telling people that he had been sick, so he will attend the party in a short while, even Kanao was nowhere to be seen. He closed his eyes for a bit, remembering the harsh words. 

“ Eh? Hello! Welcome to Father's party! I hope you enjoy tonight” Tanjiro, the ever bright, calm and kind child spoke to him while he gripped his wrist. 

“ Tanjiro—” Giyuu hugged him tightly, nearly dropping a tear “ I'm glad that I found you “ He smiled softly. The boy didn't even react one bit, looking at him cluelessly pushing the guy away from him, as he dusted himself off from his…dirt. 

“ You must have been mistaken—Have we even met before? “ 

Even if he’d interacted with Zenitsu, Inosuke and Genya, none of them seemed to ever recall me. He managed to sneak back in, dozing off and looking up at the ceiling in boredom, while the guests performed dirty deeds and tried to look away from them. He stayed on the second floor on the railing for a while to watch all of the guests in the living room, placing his own hand onto the bottom part of my chin, with the elbow by the railing, looking at all of them in boredom. 

A miracle somehow happened. Kanao who came from the west wing, heading down to the landing thread of the stairway where the family portrait stands. “ First of all, on behalf of Father and the rest of my siblings—I would like to thank all of you for attending tonight's event, a party where we could unleash our true selves, the party where everyone cannot forget “ Kanao spoke calmly yet with a cold tone towards to them. 

Their eyes stared at the child on the top of the stairs, he was shocked to see Kanao speaking to them coldly. Just then, Tanjiro and the rest of the children went to the top of the stairs to stand with Kanao, their standing position seemed perfect without a flaw, their smiles genuine despite Kanao's cold tone, and noticed specifically of their formal outfits in the color of shade red whereas the guests were all dressed in black. “ We, welcome all of you to the mansion—For the main event, we welcome the owner of the house, our Father- “ 

As he spoke, he looked on the right side of the stairs, staring into the darkness “ Muzan Kibutsuji, the Lord of the Mansion “ 

His eyes widened in shock as footsteps echoed from the darkness, where all the guests had laid their eyes onto the incoming host. Beyond the darkness—was the Demon King none other than Muzan Kibutsuji, who’d disappeared five years ago from the eyes and ears of the Demon Corps. Before the male yelled at him in hatred trying to warn the guests, they clapped loudly instead which made him stare at them in confusion. Descending from the stairs, he was able to reach towards the children, where he stood in the middle, between Tanjiro and Genya.

Muzan Kibutsuji, had his hair tied behind his back as usual, and instead in his usual black clothing, now wore a red and short tuxedo and long pants, a red V-line vest hugged around his waist just with three buttons and underneath its vest was his black polo that mainly fit on his arms enough that didn’t leave any remaining space inside of it. There was a similarity in his outfit, which was the white long tie that Tanjiro had seen when he encountered Muzan at that time, and some accessories like a red ring on his index finger and a gold watch on his left wrist.   

“ Ladies and gentlemen, I thank all of you for coming tonight for the event. “ Muzan spoke, as everyone’s noise died down when he spoke calmly. “ For the past five years, I was able to get away from the people that wanted me dead. I lived amongst the shadows trying to fit into the society, yet I was shunned away by them and nearly killed me for existing. So I decided to make my business a place where we can help people to give back the life they once lost, allowing them to start over again as a human being! “ Muzan spoke. Giyuu was confused and shocked as to how the Demon King who nearly took the lives of the many, was now doing charitable work for the people in this village.

Giyuu, who once observed the crowd noticed that the guests were all calm towards Muzan, listening to his speech intently, he realized one thing—the majority of these people seemed to be connected with him somehow and were all highlighted as VVIP guests, not inviting any citizens from the village. He asked them why, but some say that Muzan was uncomfortable letting guests in from his trauma of being killed by people. He was so busy with his own thoughts that he snapped to reality again when Muzan's voice became evil, speaking with calmness in his voice.

“ My two beloved sons, Tanjiro and Genya, helped me with my research and created—Project: Sunlight! With one sip of a potion, you’ll be able to disguise yourselves, roam the land as human beings while overcoming the sun. After many trials and errors, we were able to make this happen and not only that, the effects could last for 72 hours! “ Muzan smirked looking at Tanjiro and Genya with a gleeful look, with his arms wrapped around their shoulders.  

Giyuu, hiding in the crowd, looked at them in confusion. Project: Sunlight? 

“ I’m proud to say that thanks to my children’s contributions and efforts, we would be able to live and hunt peacefully without the slayer's knowledge! “ Muzan spoke evilly, staring at the guests with red eyes, the guests all applauded Muzan, and to the children who just stood there and waved at them with a smile on their face as if they accomplished something for them. 

“ We may now reveal our true nature! “ Muzan yelled in a manic tone. 

Chapter Text

Giyuu followed all of them down to the basement, it was getting deeper and deeper until a hint of a soft red light glowed in the room. The rooms were decorated in red things: Red ribbons, black carpet floors and their masks, placed into the tray after coming in. Giyuu took it off in precaution and wore a disguise mask to prevent them from knowing who he really was. Everyone was all quiet so it churned his stomach a bit. 

He could see Tanjiro and the rest of the children serving hors d'oeuvres to the guests. Once Zenitsu was walking in his direction, he took the appetizer and the red wine. When he tasted the wine—It felt sweet and tangy, tasting the fresh juice of pomegranate and black berries, he wasted no time in drinking all of it. After drinking it, he kept feeling thirsty as if he wanted to taste the fine luxury of wine, one that they cannot simply afford unless you are a noble or a royalty. He was about to eat the appetizer until Muzan spoke.

“ I hope all of you enjoyed the taste of human blood and meat, my children specially made it for all of you “ When he spoke, he stopped his hand, stared at the appetizer, smelled it for a bit and looked at it in disgust that he pretended to eat it, but he just threw it into a vase.

Human blood and meat.

This means the 199 guests in this room are-

“ Reveal yourselves! “ When Muzan spoke, their human bodies that were once normal became deformed, their skin nearly turning light or dark and the anomaly in their bodies was finally revealed to their Demon King, changing back to their normal selves as they all laughed and growled like the true monsters they are. Giyuu nearly fainted that all of these guests were all demons.

While the Hashras were training fully for Muzan’s comeback, he was one step ahead of the Demon Corps, making them freely roam under the sunlight as they pleased—Their worst nightmare has come alive.

He finally snapped back to reality, hearing the sound of children crying. Giyuu went up close to the gathered crowd to find younger children, huddled up all together in a circle bruised and chained on their ankles. He just stared at them in shock, helpless like he wanted to grab his sword out and save all of the children leading them to safety, but unable to because he was outnumbered. 

“ I have prepared—your feast. Now eat! “ Once Muzan yelled, all of the demons grabbed the nearest children they could, watching them run away like prey while Giyuu secretly hid in the cabinet while the demons were all running, devouring them like monsters. 

Giyuu shut the drawer door leaving a small gap large enough to watch the bloody scene. Without a choice, he was forced to hear the screams and cries of the children being devoured by a monster. The man nearly screamed in despair but his hands covered his mouth to stop breathing and just stared at the small gap. One child fell onto the floor near to his hiding spot, the child saw him secretly, and looked at the figure pleading to him for mercy, before he could reach out to him properly, the demon that was on top of him ate his liver, leaving him in his lifeless form, bleeding thoroughly to the ground with his body exposed to the cold air. HIs form was also the same as for the other children, everyone dead and missing an organ each.

Except for one child who crawled to the door in desperation despite of the amputated injury in the right leg, he went near to Tanjiro and gripped softly of his pants in fear and panic, staring at him “ Please Mister… please…I-i don’t want to die- “

“ Don’t worry, I’ll help you “ Tanjiro smiled calmly.

The boy asked Tanjiro for his help, knowing him for his kind and warm personality touching the hearts of humans and mostly demons. Giyuu is still clinging onto the hope that his tsugoku is still in there somewhere trying to gain control of his own mind, secretly helping them escape from the monster’s hand. Instead, he plunged the knife into the child’s stomach which let out a cough of a small amount of blood enough to stain his clothes, slowly and eagerly lifting the knife up to his rib cage. 

Every child now in this room was dead. Served on a silver platter to satisfy the demon’s hunger for pure human flesh.

Giyuu was beyond horrified by what he had just witnessed, his breathing ragged, panicking from what he had seen, looking around again to confirm what he’d seen. Tanjiro, with a knife in his hand has killed an innocent child without a thought or hesitation, his clothes stained in blood and his eyes stared at the lifeless child, in disgust and satisfaction.

“ I can’t believe that child clung onto me. Look at what he did to my suit! Now it’s stained, no thanks to him, Father! “ Tanjiro pouted and kept the knife on the table, looked around his siblings who all stood there and watched the demons devour their food.

“ Did you see the way it pleaded with me to help them? “ Tanjiro looked at Father, who was sitting on his throne as usual, enjoying the sight of his fellow demons eating children. “ And the way that child stained my clothes? “

“ Of course, Tanjiro. Indeed I did “ Muzan smiled as took a sip of wine in the wine glass.

“ Honestly seeing the fact that these children still cling to life—I pity them, they should be grateful that they were chosen for a good cause “ Zenitsu spoke after eating a piece of steak cubes from the table.

“ Yeah! After all, Father was so generous to the townsfolk when he first came here. The people thanked him for everything that he had done for this town of course “ Inosuke smirked at Father “ They should be grateful that they're living lavishly with fine clothes and food enough to fill their stomachs at least! “ He looked at him in admiration for the good deeds he had done for them.

“ As they should, Inosuke-san. “ Muzan smiled a bit at him, then looked around in confusion and asked “ Where’s Kanao? “ He asked. Tanjiro responded.

“ She’s fetching Genya as you ordered, Father. Last I heard, Genya was stuck on a doorframe again “ Tanjiro sweatdropped a bit, then added “ When can we also eat, Father? “ He asked politely.

“ After the masquerade. While they’re still eating, do call Senjuro for me for a bit “ Muzan ordered, Tanjiro immediately left and went upstairs on the room while the two of them just stared at the guests eating the lifeless body of the children, with some of their organs falling out from their bodies and sliced into pieces. One demon, who used his sharp finger nails of its claws, chewed it. Zenitsu’s curiosity began to wonder what eyeballs taste like for once, that it satisfied Muzan for once seeing him so compliant and curious.

 

Giyuu Tomioka who was still hiding in a dark cabinet, who heard the screams of children pleading for help, Muzan staring at Tanjiro in satisfaction with the knife on his hands and the rest, who mainly just watched the innocent children be eaten by the demons—Made his blood boil in pure anger and disgust which increased his desire to rescue all of the children and kill Muzan Kibutsuji once and for all.

Being stuck in this dark and claustrophobic space, forced him to rapidly breathe inside, his forehead and his upper body sweated for who knows how long that his disguise finally dampened. His hand still clutched, covering his mouth to prevent himself from puking inside of this cabinet exposing his hiding spot to them. Despite the disgust expression that he’d put up, he wasn’t able to get over his terror of all the tsugokus became cold-hearted children, as if Muzan made them to be one. He maintained his normal breathing slowly and wished in his own thoughts.

 
He just prayed and hoped that his plan would work. 

After the party, Muzan and the children were able to send the 200 guests off back to where they came from. The children, despite being tired after the party, cleaned up the whole mess in the living room and dining room. Zenitsu asked Father regarding the sudden neatness of the basement. Muzan hushed him quietly, no longer bringing up the topic after telling him that he had magic powers to make things go back to what it was.

In short, Senjuro cleaned every corner of the room and replaced all furniture in the basement with the same items.  

Everyone went all to sleep, Zenitsu and Inosuke still argued about who’s going to the bathroom first and Tanjiro went to bed as usual. As for Senjuro, he made sure to check the kitchen one last time before fully going to bed; Genya on the other hand stayed in Father's room for a private session with him.

Kanao, walked on the back of the house in their garden to collect the well-growned vegetables as per Father’s request for a healthy breakfast and tea herbs after the events that happened a while ago. She hummed for a while calmly while collecting vegetables and tea herbs, the unfamiliar footsteps got eerily louder in her hearing the more they walked. Kanao turned around calmly and, shocked to find a person, managed to enter the mansion.

“ Kanao “ The figure hugged her tightly and somehow felt confused by their actions, listening to the man’s voice  “ You’re all alive, thank god. It’s me! Giyuu Tomioka. “

She kept hearing the stranger’s ramble, staring into space thinking how to get help “ I-i thought that you were all dead after REDACTED encounter. S******* misses you, please you have to help me get them all outside and- “

Before the figure took Kanao’s wrist, she jumped away and nearly slashed him with the hidden knife on her inner dress, but the intruder was able to dodge it quickly. Kanao took a quick stance, taking out the hidden dagger on the wooden basket and spoke with coldness in her tone “ I don’t know how you know my name, buy one thing I know—You are not welcome here. “

“ Wait no- “ Before the figure was able to stop her. It was too late, she alerted the whole mansion of his existence.

Muzan Kibutsuji, was just reading a book in his dimly lit quarters, sitting on his personal chair with cornflower tea in the cup, reading a book about a predator and prey written by an English man. Every night when the children are asleep, he would tend to read the whole book before going to sleep and most psychological books that can impact children, forcing them to be dependent on a savior. Looking back, his perfect and strategic plans are nearly succeeding to his expectations turning them into little soldiers, who are more powerful enough to take down on his enemies, making them into something that even they cannot take down due to—Attachments.

He stopped reading his books the moment the bell rang inside of the house, he closed the book with one hand and stared down at Genya—chewing on the intestines of the drunkard man in his 30s. He’d been feeding him for 2 years with humans instead of demons, and after further observation, his abilities improved solely on the human flesh.

The collar is still on his neck, reminding the child of his loyalty and role beside Muzan. Genya was like a dog, well-trained and obedient enough to follow his orders, even if it meant commanding him to take a bite out of them. Muzan halted him from finishing his food, patting his left thigh in front of him. Genya, crawled into his Father on fours like a real pet, crawling on the floor and leaned onto his Master’s leg. The demon child learned that demons are nothing but slaves and minions, to make them do his bidding. 

“ You’re different from those demons, Genya. You’re special—I wished to keep you that way “  

Muzan looked down on the child while patting his mohawk hairstyle soothingly and calmly. Before he would ask, the bell rang throughout the manor that Genya tilted his lead up staring at his Father’s eyes. Both of them now were all outside with the children who just woke up from their nap to apprehend the stranger, which he ran away from this territory after knocking Kanao out cold to the ground. Tanjiro and the two children, Zenitsu and Inosuke panicked, trying to help their big brother as best as they could.

Muzan walked up to Genya from behind, which made the demon child freeze in his position as he’d pressed the button on the collar, snapping it open on its own that it fell in the fields of a dandelion. He stood 2 inches away from Genya. He’d known of his improved abilities for a while now and would like to try it out for once. He pointed with his index finger towards to the forest, commanding him in his harsh tone and a neutral expression like a man commanding his pet to bring something back—or better yet, someone who’d been hiding among the crowd disguised as one of his dead guest. 

“ Fetch him. “ 

Chapter Text

Giyuu, who was still in his tuxedo despite the blood stains and dirt on the corners and mostly on the back of the clothes, kept running for dear life that costs most of his breathing while trying to dodge trees, avoid traps and slain the hidden demons who happened to be nearby trying to lunge at him ready to gnaw their teeth and slash him with their nails.

“ Fourth Form: Striking Tide “

Giyuu, who let out multiple slashes, managed to kill the demons in front of him while their heads fell to the ground. He sighed for a bit and looked back, to find Genya in his demon form running after him with a gun on his hand—Without being able to rest for a bit, he kept running for his dear life to avoid being caught at the hands of the demon.

He didn’t know where he was right now, he felt so lost that he wanted to be over with. Giyuu kept running and looked behind to find Genya wasn’t there anymore and manage to ease for a bit-

A bullet flew nearly on his head, had Giyuu not felt the soundwave and dodged for a bit. He finds Genya, inserting another bullet and keeps shooting him. With his legs he jumped and ran vastly to avoid all the bullets and the demons on his way, as he was about to turn to his right the demon was suddenly in front of him, unable to react immediately he punched the demon with his fist making him fly meters away from him as it hissed. He landed on the ground and forced himself to make another Water Breathing Style even though he was tired.

“ Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin “

Giyuu finally managed to get the demon off him, until bullets shot fire at him and dodged it just in time—Except for one bullet which grazed and left a wound on his left arm. He avoided screaming in pain, he looked down to see that the wound on his arm opened and decided to crouch down suddenly felt too heavy for himself, at the same time applied pressure to avoid bleeding. While Giyuu held his wound, he heard slow and eerie footsteps forcing himself to look towards the child who had been hunting him for who knows how long.

Genya Shinazugawa, the brother of Sanemi Shinzugawa and Gyomei Himejima’s tsugoku, was now standing 2 meters away from him, in his formal attire as if he already expected of his arrival and holding a hunting rifle instead of his double-barreled shotgun. Behind him, was the man that vanished into thin air in the same outfit and hairstyle just as he met him a few months ago before discovering his location, Muzan Kibutsuji. 

“ I must say—i’m surprised that you made it this far, Water Hashira. “ Muzan, looked at him with calm eyes and an intimidating demeanor while Giyuu, panted tiredly for some reason, then he looked at the helpless Hashira and spoke with a grin on his face. “ But now that I discovered of your presence, I suggest that we head back to the manor and talk things out formally along with the children. “

Muzan, mentioning the children, nearly had his blood boiling and spoke with a threatening tone “ And if I don’t cooperate? “

“ Let’s just say—We can be here throughout the whole night until you give in “ Muzan spoke calmly, Genya on the other hand was still aiming his rifle gun at the hashira. Giyuu glared at Muzan angrily as he grabbed his Nichirin Sword on his side, jumping way up high to the sky, aiming the blade directly at Muzan.

“ Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent “ 

As he performed this technique, Genya blocked him from hurting his Father, not realizing that it was intentional. As the fog faded in front of the two, Muzan gritted his teeth and looked at Genya, threateningly “ It seems that our guest still wish to play cat and mouse. Bring him to me at once and don’t even let him have the upper hand, again. “ 

“ As you wish, Father “ Genya, cackled the rifle on his hand with a bullet on the ground and walked in front of him slowly and reassurely to bring Giyuu back—Even if it meant inflicting pain on him. 

Giyuu luckily got away from them and encountered a cave which he hid there to rest for a bit before going back outside. Using the clothing of the polo, he wrapped it around the infected wound “ I... have to go and finish the final plan “

He tried to get up on his own and for some reason he was feeling a bit dizzy however the effects faded for a bit, and his own breathing finally turned normal and once again he ran out of the forest trying to evade Genya. Once he ran for a while, he could hear rustling of leaves and loud footsteps echoing throughout the forest where Genya appeared on his side, instinctively jumping away from him on the right side. Both of them fought so hard with their own weapons, clashing with one another until both of them were already face to face.

“ Give it up, stranger. You’re helpless right now. “ Genya glared at him, while Giyuu kept his calm face in front of him.

“ I—can’t do that. Genya, if you’re in there somehow in the back of your mind please fight him! Resist his control! You are not Muzan’s pet. You are a demon slayer even without breathing, you still wanted to help the Demon Corps killing all demons just to impress your brother, Sanemi Shinazugawa! “ He yelled, trying to use force to prevent him from using his weapon.

“ Brother? “ Genya looked at him with confusion, thinking about what he said. Just before he was about to think, his head jolted in shock, throbbing in intense pain that makes the world spin around him with invisible red stringls wrapped around his head. Just then, he nearly heard the voice of Father behind him, as the monster showed him bad yet distorting memories while whispering something from behind his ear.

"If you don't have any skills to show, you're useless."

“ Get the fuck out of the d— h—. Worthless shit like you is not my brother “ 

"I have no brother!"

<<Genya, my son. This man is tricking you to join his cause and tries to severe your bond over your true siblings. The old brother that you have, discarded you like waste and disowns you for existing in his life. You know pretty well to who your real family is—who you’re loyal to.>>

Genya, after hearing the voice stared at the intruder, then glared at Giyuu that with all of his strength he pushed and punched him hard at the stomach enough to make him fly, knocking him by a tree behind him “ You think that you could make me turn away from my Father?! “ He spoke, looking at him with mockery and pity and continued to speak toxicly. “ Don’t make me laugh, you will never deceive me to betray, my Father. Now die! “

Before Genya was about to pull the trigger, Giyuu dashed towards him positioning the nichirin sword vertically with the pommel on the top of his head, directly knocking him out with all of his strength unconsciously and fell to the ground without a movement or resistance of the brutal force. Giyuu stared at the unconscious Genya, stared at him with guilt while holding the wound on his arm, he ran for his life continuously.

He was able to slaughter all the hidden demons within the forest and distract Muzan for a while now. Every time that he’d run, he slowly felt himself throbbing in pain for no reason. In the middle of running from him, he did not see the small rock in front of him which his foot bent in slow motion and tripped on the ground, hurting himself in the process and clothes covered in demon’s blood and dirt. His side of the forehead had blood drip leaving traces of blood on the ground. The former Hashira could hear the chuckling of small yet sinister laughter of Muzan that he slowly stood up on his own feet, taking each step running towards to a safe place buying some time to hide like a mouse-

SNAP!

Giyuu froze in his tracks, stared below weakly and slowly to find a sharp metal tooth biting into his right leg which was hidden by the stack of leaves. Feeling the intense pain from the bear trap, he yelled in agony while trying to hold the urge into screaming from the top of his lungs with tears falling down from the corners of his eyes. He tried to use both of his hands to open the trap but it was too tight, the more he’d move, the more this metal tooth digs into his own flesh deeply allowing blood to spill deeply to the ground. 

“ I’ve been expecting you to fall for that trap, former Water Hashira. " Giyuu looked back in fear to see Muzan Kibutsuji behind him, standing a meter away from him while looking at his own nails. He walked up slowly towards him and continued.

“ I had predicted that you were going to run into this direction so just to make sure, I set up traps covering the majority of the forest except by the bed of waters outside of this village. I'm still disappointed that you knocked my poor second eldest son out cold. Even though you nearly manipulate him into joining your side, I praise him for his loyalty over his siblings and to his true leader “ Muzan grinned evilly admiring his handiwork of the caught Hashira. Giyuu was about to grab his nichirin sword on his side, however the shadows beneath him suddenly formed into hands held both of his wrists down tightly, leaving him helpless. He tried to break free but they were much stronger than him, now that he’d lost most of his stamina, unable to form a breathing technique.

“ I won’t let you get away from this, Muzan Kibutsuji. The Hashiras will soon find you and take you down for taking their tsugokus away from them, they’ll do everything in their power to take them back home “ Giyuu glared at the tall man while struggling to maintain his breathing from his injuries. Muzan crouched into his level, and gripped underneath his chin using one hand with his nails, digging into his skin. 

“ Listen here, brat. I spent plenty of time with all of them in my basement, making sure that they wouldn't have any pathetic ideas of going back to the Demon Corps, especially Tanjiro Kamado when all I have to do is to plant seeds of doubt and tell them that the Hashiras they oh so looked up to, abandoned and threw them away like worthless garbage “ Muzan grinned at Giyuu. His own blue eyes dilated into shock and disbelief that the monster who took the lives of humans, tortured them physically and mentally using the fact that the Demon Corps proclaimed them all dead—It made him furious, letting it all out through his screams of rage.

“ You heartless demon! Not only you manipulated them, but you hurt them also, one of them isn’t even a demon hunter- “ Giyuu tried to lunge at him, but the shadow binds prevented him from doing so. He tried to let out a bit of word from his mouth, but Giyuu finds his whole body paralyzed in the process which he was forced to lay on the ground while the shadows finally disappeared. Muzan now approaches to his right side, patting his head while brushing some of the strands of his hair away to the back.

“ Now that I finally found you, I'll take you back with me as the lost and hurt little lamb. “ Muzan with his eyes dilated into a cat finally noticed his red eyes which lit under the moonlight, placing one hand onto his quadriceps femoris and the other on the tibialis anterior. 

“ What…are you.. “ Giyuu tried to tilt his head up for a bit and speak with his voice, but he kept sweating and throbbing due to the intense pain he's feeling all over his whole body that prevents him from talking further, feeling scared and helpless to do anything about it. 

“ Everything will be alright. We can discuss furthermore, just not around the children “ Muzan coldly spoke. Giyuu, who felt his blood run cold, realized what Muzan was about to do next as he used the bits of his strength and to struggle, pushing him away and hitting him weakly to get away as soon as he can- 

CRACK.

Somewhere deep at night by the deep forest, there were people disguised as ordinary visitors from nearby town and one of them looked up at the sky following the crow to the location while the other held the letter from Giyuu at hand which contains valuable information “ Are we almost there, i’m fucking tired? “ The figure with white hair asked grumpily, tired.

“ Calm now, my dear friend! Tanjiro’s crow is trying their best to stay awake to lead us to where they are “ The orange haired guy with an eye patch on his right side spoke quietly and whispered “ I just hope that we made it in time. “ He spoke in his anxious tone.

“ Don’t worry. We’ll be able to rescue them all back. “ The older figure disguised as the drunk old man held his shoulder calmly while trying to prevent the release of his anger. The other figure who’d been silent just kept staring at the night sky trying not to close his eyes, focused on the mission at hand.

“ To think that Tomioka-san was able to find the children. While we were just blatantly accepting that Tanjiro-san and the rest were dead, Tomioka-san left the Demon Corps to find them… We should have helped him instead of accusing him of being mentally unstable “ The pink haired girl who dyed her hair back to black spoke in guilt, until her fiance comforted her.

“ We wouldn't have known. Muzan was able to keep them away from our sights, who knows what he’d done to them during those years. “ The man wearing a kasa made out of straws and a robe around his mouth just continued to walk while hiding his snake underneath his clothing.  The girl with a butterfly clip just went down from the trees.

“ We’re still far from the exact location, for now we have to quickly travel if we still wish to rescue the children from Muzan “ The girl who’s in charge of the rescue mission spoke in a serious tone while taking her tsugoku’s robe throughout the journey, all of them nodded and continued their journey while she silently spoke.

Tomioka-san, wherever you are I hope that we’ll get to you by the time we’ve arrived to rescue the children from Muzan, she thought to herself as they all followed Tanjiro’s crow to lead them to Giyuu’s exact location.

Chapter Text

To my fellow Hashiras and Master Kagaya Ubuyashiki, 

First of all, I would like to address the fact that after 2 years of leaving the Demon Corps, Master Kagaya Ubuyashiki, I still have the linger feeling of betrayal, anger and resentment for being unable to believe my theory of the children still being alive, hidden in plain sight. Despite the times that I have expressed my concerns to the fellow Hashiras at hand, yet everyone thought that I was still grieving over the loss of Tanjirou Kamado, the boy who I took in personally along with her sister, Nezuko Kamado on the day when the demons murdered his whole family. I placed Nezuko's care into Uzui Tengen's wives who were all kind enough to take her in my absence after promising to her that I would never leave by her side, I still felt like a hypocrite breaking it. All of you who were once my colleagues, stared at me with the eyes which that I feared the most as if I was the mentally unstabled child—I did not like that, not even one bit. 

Master Urokodaki, I apologize for simply leaving you without a word of goodbye knowing that you'll stop me from investigating and searching for the children's whereabouts. I'm forever grateful for taking me in after losing my older sister. You kept telling me of how I had my worth and place as the Hashira of the Demon Corps, knowing that I had not once desrve this title, which was supposed to go to Sabito, my friend. But I had felt betrayed by my own master, who had not once believed my theories, making me think that I'm mentally broken after their deaths, I hated you ever since I left the Demon Corps.   

Shinobu Kocho, after I expressed my concerns you looked at me with pity which I did not require at that time, telling me how I was still in the middle of denial of their deaths, I had to endure your lectures just to prevent myself from being angry at you knowing how you are still trying to process the grief of losing Kanao, your adoptive sister by locking yourself in your own room and for once, I understood you so I left your mansion quietly without saying goodbye. 

Uzui Tengen, after you heard of what happened to Tanjiro and the rest of the children—You been floating in self-hatred for not being able to come along with the Hashiras depsite of your disability, wishing that you could have done something for them or atleast trying to request your wives into watching over the children, but you couldn't be able to take care of yourself which made you hated yourself for being a burden of the Demon Corps even when your not. When I expressed my concern towards of my theorization, you were just like Shinobu who looked at me with pity, I tried to talk things out with you telling you of my dreams but you brushed it off and kicked me out of your house disrespectfully after I reminded you of how weak you were for being unable to stop your siblings from killing themselves just to satisfy your Father. I never once talked to you again, all I ask of you is to take care of Nezuko—she needs all of you to protect her. 

Rengoku Kyoujiro, I am proud to have you as my friend ever after all the times of how I kept pushing you away in fear of being attached to someone. After hearing the rumor that you and Tanjiro had an ecounter with Upper Moon 3, I was scared for dear life that I might lose you and prayed to the Gods that you will be safe from harm. Luckily, I was able to arrive just in time to protect you from his brutal attack. Remembering the night that we lost the tsugokus, I looked at you despite feeling helpless and shock that I lost Tanjiro and saw how the brightest smile on your face faded instantly the moment that you realized that you also lost your little brother, Rengoku Senjuro from Muzan's hands even though he wasn't supposed to be in their mission. I came along with you to tell the news to your Father, but he was in denial and angry that he yelled choerent words which as a result, snapped at your own Father, pushed him hardly to where your mother's vase stands as a reminder that this was the gift for her when Senjuro arrived in this world. When it broke, he broke down too realizing that he'd officially lost one of his sons to a demon which he balmed himself for not training him a lot. After the funeral, both of you bonded and talked your feelings out to the point that your Father, Shinjuro had just wished that he stood up as the parent figure for the both of you helping long before, to achieve your dreams of being stronger as the Flame Hashira instead of self-loathing, abusive and neglectful as the former Flame Hashira and as your Father. I tried to tell you that your little brother was still alive somewhere, out there, but both of you were healing slowly like a flower blooming slowly on its own despite the chaos and the aftermath—For the sake of this sanctuary and for your own feelings, I decided to keep my mouth shut allowing the both of you grieve fully. I never once hated you for not listening.   

Mitsuri Kanroji, Muichiro Tokito and Gyomei Himejima. Both of you listened to my feelings of the times how I dreamt of them every single night as they called out to me somewhere, out in the world. Despite both of you doubting me, you still lended an ear and gave me adivces as to why am I dreaming them after the memorial of the tsugokus never once judging me or looked at me like I was broken and in denial. I am forever grateful of it, especially Mitsuri, who reminded me of my dead old sister. Of course, I said some hateful words after I found out at Mitsuri's home that you three planned to report to the Master secretly of my thoughts which you tried to supress by making a request form to make me leave in absence so that I would stop investigating of their whereabouts, which made me feel betrayed a lot so I chose to ignore the both of you, except Muichirou which he was still blank-minded at that time.   

Sanemi Shinazugawa, I'll make it short and simple. You lost your little brother from Muzan Kibutsuji, I tried to convince you but you were still in denial of the fact that he was alive and if he had been, you still wouldn't love him back as the big brother you are, I argued back at you for saying some offensive things about Genya, which I also took care of him since you wouldn't do it for him. Knowing that your lying to yourself, I tried to reach for you, but you were just too far away that you ended up digging a hole full of regrets and misery. Looking at the broken mannequins, you were angry not at Genya, but at yourself for being too mean which he died in the process. I know somewhere, that you still cared about him—Think of this throughly if you wish to make up for all the times that you had lost your bond with your sibling. 

Obanai Iguro, I know that you think that the deaths of the children did not bother you—But it did, they were still young and they weren't supposed to be in a fight that they never asked which they reminded of your younger self. You even liked Tanjiro even without admitting it and approved Nezuko, a bit as a request from your fiance after she gave you a comfortable scarf for you and your snake and two individual scarves based on your haoris as her wedding gift for the both of you. You started to be nice to her, which she looked up to you as her big brother, she reminds you of Tanjirou Kamado. But please, always check up on your friend Sanemi, who's drowing in hatred and anger as a result bargained in regrets of the 'what-ifs' had he came along with the mission at Mount Natagumo. 

Back to the  letter at hand, I did not sent a letter just so that I will explain all my hatred to the Demon Corps but to explain of what I obtained after my year of travel in search for the missing children. One year ago, someone form a neighboring village had seen Muzan's figure in town at night, buying several clothes for children's and Genya's size and enourmous amount of medicine which contains for healing wounds and sleeping pills. In the other village, they also saw him accompanying a orange-haired child in that town which he tried to run from him but ended up being caught, apologizing the citizen for his son's actions for causing a ruckus, they didn't noticed the signs of abuse and kidnapping at first, but the person who had seen the boy was killed the other night at the alleyway and no longer had seen the both of them anymore. My third confirmation of their survival was when the old man who lives alone in an temple shrine had familiarize an other boy asking for his help, but the main problem is that he's blind that he could only hear their voices of the boy's plead for help and the other figure, spoke in threat and dominance to killing the blind old man if he did not gone back with him. 



It confirmed my theory—That all of them were still alive somewhere. After walking village after village, I had finally found the location to the village that Muzan resides along to where he had fully kept the children. I asked some information from them but they had believed that Muzan as their savior, rescuing them from poverty and in return. they were all loyal to him which I cannot initiate on barging into his mansion. I investigated the mansion away from the village from afar and saw Genya's figure outside at night. 



I am going to give you all some time to prepare and head out first thing in the morning to accompany me in rescuing the children once and for all from Muzan Kibutsuji. Please prepare quickly, and follow Tanjirou's crow once all of you are prepared. If by chance, you were all unable to find me, means that Muzan has found out about my presence in the village and captured me, no matter what happens always take care and be ready for any potential demon sightings, protect the village at once and take back the children. 

I'm sorry, for everything.   




From Yours Truly,

Giyuu Tomioka.

PS. Mitsuri Kanroji, congratulations on your engagement with Iguro Obanai, I apologize for not being able to be there for your party. To make it up for you, I leave my embroided and sewn shiromuku kimono and handmade hairpin which are all based on your haori for your wedding day, I hope that you'd like it—Iguro Obanai, if I found out that you hit her and hurt her feelings, I'll break your spinal cord so hard that you won't be able to stand properly or look at me in the eyes properly with that snake wrapped around that delicate neck of yours which I could slit in the first place had I ran out of patience with you.  

Chapter Text

Tanjiro, who just finished his scheduled study which Father has made for all of the children, got out of his study room and stretched for a bit, walking down to the kitchen as the other children stopped from what they were doing and all huddled up “ Hey guys, why aren't you doing your chores right now? “ Tanjiro asked curiously.

“ The visitor outside, remember? “ Genya spoke to him, which gave him an idea as to why they stopped. 

“ We're all curious about him or where'd he appeared “ Zenitsu said. 

“ I don't even want to think about him, he nearly tried to take me away from Father “ Kanao spoke in shiver, still feeling the hate over that guy while Senjuro stared at them while comforting her. Inosuke arrived to find his siblings talking in the kitchen. 

“ Let me guess, it’s that creepy man that’s been stalking us isn’t it? “ Inosuke huffed in annoyance, then continued after the long silence “ Of course it’s him “.

“ Why do you think he tried to sneak in the first place? “ Zenitsu asked.

“ Either he came here for something—Or for someone “ Kanao spoke with a cold tone in her small voice. All of the children were bothered by his presence that it makes them uncomfortable but Father said to treat their guests politely no matter who or what they are, all of them remembered the night that Father brought the guest back inside.

It was a heavy stormy night after the party, the children all headed inside and waited for their Father to return. Time passed by for the children as they already began cleaning up the mess in the lobby. The door swung open with force as the children all gathered by the entrance.

Genya soaked in the rain with Father, who looked soaked in the rain with his outfit soaked in mud, with the intruder in his arms. “ Father! Thank god you’re alright! “

“ No time to explain. Prepare the first aid kit and a bucket with warm water and a small towel. I’ll discuss regarding with this, later. “ 

After Father tended the guest for four hours straight, he went back down to the living room with fresh clothes on as the children looked at Father with worry “ What did the guest do to you?! I swear if he hurt you, I’ll- “ Before Tanjiro lashed out, Muzan shushed him softly.

“ Everything’s fine for now, my children. I tried to save him from falling off the cliff, but I was too late, his ankle broke from the fall. I took him in out of pity “ Father looked down coldly, in his tea.

“ So long as you’re safe, Father. But what about the intruder, he nearly tried to take Kanao and he must be punished for it? “ Zenitsu spoke with hate towards to the figure in Father's hands.

“ Yeah! What he did is purely unacceptable. “ Inosuke exclaimed.

“ We should just give him to- “ Before Senjuro could speak, Father spoke up.

“ I’ll take him in for the meantime. I take full responsibility in aiding him back to health, I was reckless not knowing that one of my guests would show intentions of harming my children. Had I not caught him, he would have separated us and for that, I apologize and not worthy of your love “ Father spoke with sympathy.

“ No Father! Don’t apologize! “ Senjuro exclaimed.

“ Father “ Genya spoke, looking at him with pure admiration in his eyes, realizing that he might make a risky choice soon. Tanjiro sat beside him, rubbing his back for comfort.

“ Whatever you decide, Father, we’ll support you. “ Tanjiro spoke, not knowing how their Father had been waiting all this time for him to say that.

“ Ever since that night, he wishes to take responsibility in watching over him—Despite that man’s action, Father still showed kindness and hospitality “ Tanjiro spoke happily as if their Father had finally done a good deed again.

“ Yeah! Father’s the best! “ Inosuke yelled happily. 

“ I agree “ Genya hummed in agreement, Senjuro finally spoke up. 

“ But guys—Don’t forget what Father said last night- “ Just before Senjuro would repeat what he said that night, everyone chimed in.

“ At all cost, do not interact nor come into his room without Father’s permission, he’ll corrupt out minds and turn against each other. “ Everyone chimed Father’s warnings, as they were about to speak regarding lunch in 2 hours, the sound of a wood hitting on the wall echoed throughout the kitchen with their eyes darted to find their Father, stared at them in annoyance as they all fell in line based on their heights. Father held a wooden walking stick on his way into the kitchen.

“ Didn’t I tell all of you to complete your scheduled activity? “ Father scolded them in annoyance.

“ Father, I did mine, b-but I was about to tell the others- “ Tanjiro stuttered trying to explain their actions.

“ Enough. You are the eldest, and should be aware that all of their reckless behavior is yours to handle instantly, and I see them gossiping instead of finishing their activities at the right time, they are wasting every opportunistic movement, wasted to nothing! Have you even thought of that? “ Father glares at Tanjiro, which scares him now.

“ Sorry Father, I-i’ll do better- please punish me for my insolence! “ Tanjiro exclaimed, bowing down in front of them with nervousness and disappointment. The siblings did not once spoke up as much as they wanted to take the blame for allowing Tanjiro’s actions to affect the status of his siblings. He looked at the bowing eldest one more time and spoke.

“ As punishment for the rest of you, none of you will be eating any food for the whole day until dinner arrives. Does anyone understand? “ They were all shocked by Father's demands, but Zenitsu spoke up.

“ Father! Please don’t punish Tanjiro, he didn’t do anything! “ Zenitsu pleaded, trying to put on a brave face to save Tanjiro from Father's punishment. Last time Zenitsu had his punsihment for clumsily breaking one of his favorite wine glass, he was forced to be locked in a dark room wihtout food or water for the whole five days, which scarred him for a month—For some reason, he didn't recall that punishment again. 

“ It’s all our fault for being unable to fulfill the activities that you have set for us! Please punish us instead of him! “  Genya spoke up despite pleading to his Father, but unfortunately he was stubborn and still declared punishment to them.

“ Are you all done whining? “ He spoke harshly, which scared them all the most and continued. “ No matter what reckless actions that you committed, your eldest brother, Tanjiro will still be punished for your disobedience and being unable to fulfill his duty. “ Father walked away, holding the tray of food for the guest, everyone stared down in silence which pleased him a lot.

“ Finish your activities and come to my office, Tanjiro after you helped them finish “ Father spoke as he went upstairs to visit his guest.

“ Yes… Father “

Muzan entered the room with a tray in his hand opening the door, seeing the intruder, Giyuu Tomioka the Water Hashira, finally stopped struggling breaking free from the binds of a long towel with its corner end, tied on the bottom left and right leg of the bed. He made sure that he was still able to moderately move his hands to eat or at least to strangle him. 

He hummed in satisfaction and placed the tray of food in front of him and said “ You must have been starving after sleeping for the past four days, had I not found you immediately, you would have died in the deep forest alone. “ 

Giyuu felt distraught and worried thinking that the demon king himself poisoned his food just to make him suffer, he just kept glaring at him like he was a monster which he already is. Muzan’s calm expression changed to annoyance after he didn’t eat and without a choice, grab a spoonful of food and eat it himself “ There’s no poison in this food. Kanao would have scolded me again if she caught me sabotaging the food which Tanjiro himself mainly prepared. “ Muzan spoke, with a smirk on his face.

Giyuu shook the mention of Tanjiro and just silently ate food in front of the Demon King, who had not once shown himself for the past two years. Without a choice, he ate silently with wariness that he might do something, that is until he spoke. 

“ First of all, I would like to apologize for that “ Muzan stared at my broken ankle and continued with a taunt in his tone “ incident “. 

Giyuu looked up at him and angrily threw the bowl at him “ I know that you intentionally broke my ankle, because you knew if I told Ubuyashiki, your location would be exposed and so as your reputation here in this town will fall to the ground. “ Muzan wiped the piece of rice from the corner of his mouth and calmly spoke.  

“ That’s what I’ve been trying to do all these years, but that’s not the reason why I take away the tsugoku from the Demon Corps “ Muzan answered blankly, which perked Giyuu’s curiosity and somehow asked, unable to stop himself from asking. 

“ If you aren’t trying to avoid the Demon Corps, why did you disappear and take Tanjiro and the others away from the Demon Corps, faking their deaths? “ The former Water Hashira asked, feeling that all the puzzles in his mind are coming together. Muzan saw his reaction and he was satisfied that this man—who had been haunting his children -- finally built the pieces together with his true intentions. 

“ Because, Giyuu Tomioka “ Muzan stood up and walked towards the window as the towels came to life,  forcing him to be dragged by the window, staring down at the children who were busy with their gardening activities.

“ I’m turning them into a capable League of Anti-Hashiras “ Muzan finally answered Giyuu. The man who was still strapped stared down at the tsugokus as they were all laughing and cleaning what it seemed—The remnants of the bodies of the dead children. In response, Giyuu nearly puked and was in disbelief of what he was seeing, he stared at Muzan for the longest time trying to process all of this information. 

He looked back down to see the five of them cleaning the garden with their special gloves, cutting the leaves bit by bit and burying fertilizers for Father’s beloved plants. Giyuu finally let out his rageful tone mainly from his boiling blood “ You sick monster!- “

Giyuu was about to yell coherent words at him, but the moving towels, that were actually Muzan’s tentacles, slid right through the sides of his mouth, gagging him to prevent Giyuu from yelling and disrupting their usual activities. Zenitsu looked up for a moment and saw his Father. Instead of noticing the uncomfort presence of the guest, he looked away and ignored what he had seen. 

He stared at the helpless Hashira had its wrist and ankles binded and pinned all the way back to bed allowing the tentacles to wrap on the bottom bedpost which restrained every movement in his body especially his torso “ I was in frustration after failing to eliminate one of the Hashiras so blatantly that my Upper Moons are useless to me “ 

“ During my sudden disappearance, I have been personally studying and analyzing their breathing techniques—Except for the orange one, he had more capabilities than all the children. He may not have any experience as a slayer but he had skills in observing, watching people from afar without a squeak. I intentionally let myself be present in Mount Natagumo, the farthest place where the Hashiras wouldn't be able to reach in time, and finally set up the trap for the Demon Corps. “ Muzan smirked, then Giyuu spoke up again. 

“ Which is where you faked their death and brainwashed them to make them all think that the Hashiras fully threw them away.  

“ Yes. But there's one problem that I never fully thought of: “ Muzan walked up towards the side of the bed leaning his body nearly at my face, then held my chin tightly “ you. “ 

Giyuu tried to resist from his grip, but failed to do so due to his strength. Had he been able to set himself free, he would have immediately killed him but he was too weak to do so. “ You are an inconvenience to my plan, so I decided to keep you here and enjoy the time I will be having with you. “ He spoke, grinning evilly while slowly holding, feeling through my hair. 

A knock was heard at the door, and the bed all the sudden positioned upright with the feet of his bed straight, for Giyuu to be able to see the person in front of them. He tried to scream for help, but the gag wrapped around his mouth made it seem impossible. 

“ Father? “ Giyuu knew that voice was—Tanjiro Kamado, or Tanjiro Kibutsuji since he was brainwashed and all. He was able to see his figure, his clothing changed from his usual slayer uniform to a casual yet formal one as if to treat them like children of Muzan Kibutsuji. Tanjiro must have been unaware of the consciousness of Giyuu Tomioka, who in his perspective, looked like he hadn't woken up. 

“ My sweet child, just in time “ Muzan went towards Tanjiro, staring at him like he was the smallest mouse in the room. Father looked at the thing that Tanjiro brought in this room, he spoke coldly “ I see you have brought it. “

“ I apologize for neglecting my duty as the eldest brother of six, for being unable to remind them of their tasks. Please discipline me Father as you see fit so that I would no longer forget my sole duties as the eldest and someone you fully entrusted “ Giyuu tilted his head even more to see the object in Tanjiro’s hand—a fireplace poker, made entirely out of iron. Muzan held the said item in his hand with Tanjiro as he placed the folded towel on his mouth and face against the wall with hands both behind his head.

Giyuu on the other hand, realized what he was about to do to Tanjiro. His eyes focused on the poker which was lifted high letting out a brute force, Muzan swung it directly behind his back with his right hand hitting Tanjiro hard enough to form a bruise and to let out a scream from the muffle easily. Giyuu tried to stop Muzan from punishing him and at the same time tried to break free from this bed, but the binds on his arms and legs and the gag was too tight around his mouth, forcing him to watch Muzan’s cruelty to Tanjiro.

Time passed and Giyuu had no idea if it’s still sunny or night time. The punishment towards Tanjiro ended with his whole body shaking from the shock, bruises formed in purple on his back with scars from the sharp edge that had been drawn slightly to his body, enough to make it bleed. Muzan dropped the poker to the ground making a clatter sound which scared him even more.

“ Have you finally come to your senses now? “ Muzan asked, crouching to his level. Tanjiro, looked up and stared at Father for seconds and nodded along while letting out a raspy yet numb tone “ I realized my errors, I apologize. “ He answered. 

“ Good. “ Muzan stood up without even helping him, then spoke again “ You may return to your quarters. Fix up the mess in the living room, do not eat until you fully organize everything. “ As he spoke harshly, Tanjiro’s eyes that were once bright were now dull and scared, nodding while grabbing the poker, leaving the room with fear in the back of his mind.

When the door was closed behind him, Muzan turned around to look at his reaction after hurting the person close to him. As he arrived on the side of his bed, the Water Hashira stared at Muzan with teary-eyes and in his eyes were full of hatred and rage towards Muzan, now sitting on a chair beside him and rubbing his hair.

“ What I’ve shown you is the result of my success in manipulating those children to think that their senior Hashiras truly abandoned them to die, and now—Slowly and surely, I’ll turn them into the most undefeatable and skilled slayers that not even the Upper Moons aren’t able to take them down easily, which they will keep on being faithful and loyal towards to me, as their Father and Master. “ Muzan spoke so casually, staring at Giyuu with his red eyes.

“ Now, all I have to do is to slowly and surely trap all of them within this mansion. For the meantime, I’ll have my fun with you “ Before Giyuu could comprehend what Muzan meant, a lever by the firetorch tilted down and vastly dropped him down to the unknown darkness below him.

Muzan recalled the moment he took Giyuu and hid him from his children preventing him from ruining his plans, staring at the Water Hashira, now had glowing red IV fluids flowing towards his veins on his right hand. His arms and wrist restrained with his Blood Art, legs fully binded with the leather belt and his vision, hearing and mouth are both blocked which prevents him from creating breathing techniques in his situation now, observing Giyuu’s chest rise and fall with movements of restraint in his weak body.

The demon king checked the bag of unknown fluids, one that he’ll be putting it to the Water Hashira’s body system as an experiment, testing his newly improved serum. As he stared at the shivering figure, one of the Upper Demons, Doma, came out from the darkness “ My my~ Lord Muzan, is this the secret project that you’ve been working on? “ He asked, blushing redly as he wrapped his arms around Giyuu’s neck. He wasn’t able to hear the voices, but he struggled imminently to break free to whoever was trying to choke him.

“ I am. Any reports for me? “ Muzan asked.

“ I felt the Hashiras presence in the village “ Doma reported back and spoke again “ It seems they’re beginning their operation. “

“ Good. Return to the Infinity Castle and lay low. Me and my children will take care of everything from here on out “ Muzan looked at Doma, the Upper Demon bowed and returned to the fortress. Muzan walked away and reached for his muffling headphone around his ears and whispered. 

“ Your pathetic companions have finally arrived in this town, I’ll make sure that none of them ever leaves this mansion. But until then, enjoy absorbing the serum and try not to move a lot or the side effects may hurt you more. “ Muzan chuckled, as he left the room, closing the door behind him and locking it fully with Giyuu struggling, calling out Muzan's name angrily as the effects slowly increased which made him give in to the effects of the solution that forced him to sleep in consciousness despite the leather belt wrapped around

his eyes.

The people in the room, looked around the room to where Giyuu resided, he kept it neat and without a single trace of evidence—Tengen sat on the bed while the others looked around for any clues that Giyuu might have left for them " Oh, I hope that we made it in time to see Giyuu " Mitsuri spoke in disguise. 

" I agree. " Obanai spoke, the people resided in the room for a while, as Sanemi, Shinjuro and Shinobu finally returned from looking around the village with a disgusted and ragful expression in their faces. 

" It is as we feared, everyone in this town adores him " Shinobu spoke in disbelief. 

" To think that Muzan pretended to be a saint around them when he's nothing but an ugly demon in disguise. Truly unacceptable. " Shinjuro spat clenching his fist in hatred. 

" We also found something important " Shinobu spoke, as she let someone inside—It was a lady in her 40s, wearing casual clothes with a grieving expression and dark circles around her eyes as if she had not sleep for a day, Shinobu looked at the lady and spoke softly " Will you please tell them what you told me? " She asked, then the grieving mother nodded. 

" My children, they disappeared 3 days ago. I got back from buying groceries from the other town and by the time I returned, they were all missing. My children didn't liked playing outside at night, especially when there are strange creatures roaming around. I tried to seek help from Mayor Muzan Kibutsuji but all he told me is that they ran away or dead on some cliff! Some of the mothers I knew around the neighborhood, had the same problem as mine. In the end, no one believed us. We were being accused of questioning Muzan's innocence, defending him that he had nothing to do with it! " The more the mother spoke, the more her tone changed to anger. 

" I know it was him, because the hair clip was kept in his pocket, the mone I gave my daughter for her 10th birthday! So please, I beg all of you " The mother, knelt down to the ground and bowed in front of the Hashiras " Please, find our children! " she let out a scream, with tears slowly running down from her eyes. 

Everyone went all silent, seeing the grieving mother seeked her help towards strangers, she trusted them easily. Rengoku was about to help her up, but instead it was his Father that stepped up, approaching her, giving the woman instead of his harsh look, he looked at the mother softly as if he knew what it means to lose a kid, he crouched down to the ground, reached out his hand and patted her shoulders " Ma'am, please stand up. " 

Both of them stood up, as Shinjuro spoke again. " I know the feeling of desperation for our children's welfare, we both know what it means to lose them—However, we will assure you, to find them and bring them home to you! " Shinjuro stared at the mother with his orange eyes, speaking to her softly, filled with determnation and hope reassuring the mother that she wasn not alone in this fight. Rengoku was silenced seeing his Father, once was a drunken and neglectful man, had truly changed within the years before his eyes, being proud at him for helping someone other than himself. The grieving mother left the apartment room, and the older man stared at the Hashiras. 

" There's no time to waste—We have to act now as soon as possible, otherwise we won't be able to rescue- " Before Shinjuro would announce the Hashiras to immediately head out, screams of chaos were heard outside. All of them rushed towards to the sound of screaming, and they could not believe it before their eyes—Several demons, who once appeared in the night were now able to walk under the sun devouring adults whereas some of them especially the elderly ran for thier lives, buildings are nearly destroyed and few of blood speaded in this road with normal humans with fire torches and old furnitures in their hands just to end them immediately. 

" We have to slaughter the demons and make sure that the townsfolk are able to evacuate as soo as possible. " Shinjuro walked slowly standing in front of the Hashiras with his son and the rest of them behind him, yelling loudly with spark in his eyes and a determined look " Hashiras, spread out and eliminate the demons immediately! "